


Inviting Mother

by Uniasus



Series: In the Company of Others [6]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Family, Gen, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-02-27 01:13:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2673317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uniasus/pseuds/Uniasus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack decides that this year, he's inviting Mother Nature to Thanksgiving dinner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sending the Invite

**Author's Note:**

> Didn't really expect to write another one for this series, but as I mentioned on [Tumblr]() it hijacked my NaNo. I expected a one-shot, but as it grew I figured it'd be a one-shot with a limited chance of being posted before the holiday, or a two-shot that partially got out to you guys. I choose the latter, obviously. ^_~ Enjoy!

"So...what do you think Phil? Good idea? Bad idea?"

The yeti just gumbled and then tugged on Jack's earlobe. His yetish was far from perfect, but Jack figured that the answer was something along the lines of _it's an okay idea, but it's obvious you want it to be a good idea so go ahead and ask her._

"Yeah, you're probably right. Think North and the others would be okay with it too?"

At that, not just Phil, but the yetis working around him, winced. 

"No huh? Maybe one year was too short of a wait. I could ask her again in five."

Phil shook his head and pointed a stern finger downwards as he garbled. _This year is fine. Sooner might be better._

Jack had to agree with that. It had only been a few months since Gaia had told him about being her pet project. The same day where he learned that despite her hands off approach and tendency to hit him with lighting bolts, Mother Nature did indeed care about him. She was, in her own way, family.

The problem was the other Guardians didn't see that as such. They didn't like her at all, and had found her down right abusive. Old Man Winter too. Not at all people they wanted Jack hanging out with. But that hadn't stopped him from visiting Mother Nature one time since then, r his regular visits to Phil and North had something similar about their treatment of him.

Tooth had thrown out a comment, something about _how is he to know it's wrong if it's all he's ever known?_ during one of the conversations Jack had overheard. He didn't quite get it. He had known other types of companionship, namely Peter Pan, and now the Guardians. 

Jack had preferred Old Man's ice cages to the Moon's silence anyway.

Which brought him back to his current dilemma - creating a situation where Mother Nature and Guardians would be interacting.

"Actually, now that I think about it, I should wait to ask."

Phil set aside his work and poked Jack hard in the shoulder. He grumbled and pointed down again. _Waiting won't make it better. Ask her this year._

"Don't think I should ask North first?"

"Ask me what?" North boomed from behind him.

Jack screwed up his eyes, took a breath to center himself, and then tipped his head back to look at the older Guardian. "Can I ask Mother Nature to Thanksgiving dinner?"

North choked on the cookie he had stuffed into his mouth in shock and Phil quickly stood to cuff him on the back. Once he had finished coughing the Cossack looked down at Jack, who quickly decided he wanted to be standing for this conversation and got to his feet.

"You wish to invite Mother Nature and Old Man Winter to our dinner?"

"Not Old Man, just Mother." Jack didn't expect North and Old Man to be able to be in he same room without starting a fight. It had happened a couple of times. The walls destroyed in the first fight had yet to regain their previous strength.

"Why? She has been no kind person to you."

"She's the first person to do anything to help me. To introduce me to the world of spirits, and more specifically told me of my elemental nature and gave me a place in this world. North, you guys are my family now. The one I chose and the one I love. But elementals and seasonals and the other nature spirits, they're the family I was born again into. You're my over protective uncle, Mother Nature is, well, my mom. 

"You sure you want to invite her?"

Jack nodded. 

"Then do so. I cannot promise there will be no harsh words, but swords will stay in sheaths."

"Thanks North," he said wrapping his arms around North's round belly.

* * *

"You want me to what?!" 

Lightening flashed through the woods and Jack was fairly sure that crash had not be thunder, but rather a tree falling. Thank goodness they were in the garden and not Mother Nature's treehouse. 

"Come have Thanksgiving dinner with me and the other Guardians."

"I refuse to spend even a minute in their presence, the unnatural freaks."

"Hey! I'm one of them too now!"

"And you are freakish too because of it."

"No," Jack took a few bold steps forward and grasped Mother Nature's hands."I'm simply truly immortal, like you are."

She pulled her hands away and gave him a stare of cold stone. 

"Look, Mother, you've complained about being lonely because spirits die as the cycle of nature commands. The Guardians exist outside of that-"

"They're _unnatural_ -"

"And so are you. Please, they're people you could talk to. You don't have to worry about them dying just as your friendship grows."

"I will not be friends with the likes of them!"

That was definitely the feeling of the island shaking under his feet. 

"I'm not saying be best friends, but can't you tolerate them for an evening? Mother, please-"

"Why?" she snarled.

"Why what?"

"Why invite me? It could only be your idea, they wouldn't have thought of it. I'm surprised they're even approving-"

"For me. You're right, they don't like the idea of you coming, but I want you to."

"Again, why? Why Jack Frost? You've made it clear you prefer being a Guardian to being an elemental, to being the new Winter."

"It's like what you said before, I am yours. I was yours first. But now you have to share me. And so you should get to know the other side of my family."

"Fine. I'll come. For you. But don't expect me to be nice to them."

"You can snarl and spit, but no wrath of nature powers allowed. They already said they'd leave their weapons at the door, you could at least match them."

She frowned, but didn't say anything. Mother flicked her hand at him in dismissal as she turned around. "Go, Jack Frost. I've got roses to attend to."

* * *

"Jamie, you have to help me find special milk and honey!"

"Having trouble getting to sleep?" the brunette raised his eyebrow. 

"No, the freezer is comfortable as ever. But, Mother's coming for Thanksgiving dinner this year."

"Mother?"

"Nature. You know, embodiment and ruler of all seasons at once. Except she delegates a lot and is really into breeding new species. Anyway, I invited her and only after I flew away remembered she's the most pickiest of eaters ever."

"You have seen Sophie eat, right?"

" _Worse the Sophie._ Jamie, she only eats things that have never been alive."

"So? We'll make a salad."

"Lettuce used to be alive. Tomatoes used to be alive." Jack collapsed face first into Jamie's bed and groaned. He turned his head to the left to prevent the comforter from muffling his words. "Milk and honey. That's all she eats."

"Cheese? Yogurt? Unfertilized eggs?"

"No, no, -it's the bacteria you know- and maybe? I mean, if there's no chance of a chick...no, better not risk it. Jamie, the only thing I can serve her is fancy milk and honey!"

The elementary student came over and patted his back. "Big brother, we'll find something. Come on, let's walk to the store and browse the aisles."

"It has to be something really special."

"So we'll make sure it's from Wisconsin. They have happy cows."

"You're a life saver, Jamie."

"And don't you forget it!"

* * *

"Jack, are you sure about this?" Tooth hovered in the doorway to the kitchen, but didn't enter. Jack, like years previously, had insisted on cooking himself. Well, mostly. When it came to using the oven Jack allowed Jamie to put on the oven mitts. And Jack often called out instructions that the boy gladly followed.

Tooth had been a bit miffed at being pushed out of the kitchen, but Jack had mentioned something about cooking being a way to share the holiday uniquely with his little brother. Well, Tooth wasn't going to stand in the way of that. And after a few years, Jack and Jamie worked well together. 

"Yes Tooth, I'm sure. I'm part of both of you guys, you need to learn to get along."

"But does it have to be on Thanksgiving?" Tooth had been there at the beginning of this tradition, built around Jack's distaste of holidays and longing for a family. It had slowly come to mean something to all the Guardians, a time to bask in the presence of friends who had become family. Having Mother Nature there would be disruptive. Tooth couldn't believe North had agreed to the idea.

Granted, he had confided that he hadn't expected Mother Nature to say yes.

"Of course, it's for family. Our family. "

Jaime paused in ripping apart bread to look between the two spirits. Even Baby Tooth, who had been flitting over a couple of pots making sure they didn't boil over, paused. Which of course was when the cranberries started to over boil and the oven beeped. 

Jaime rushed to take out the pies and Jack put on an oven mitt to grab the saucepan. It was obvious the heat from the other pots was getting to him, he was walking and not floating across the kitchen. Tooth flew forward and was immediately glared at.

After the cranberries were stirred and removed from heat and the pumpkin pies were switched out for a turkey, Jack turned to Tooth with hands on his fists. He looked adorable, with his flushed face and right hand sheathed in a polka dotted mitt. What started as a glare softened at what he saw on her face.

"Thanksgiving _is_ for family Tooth. And she's mine. But on top of that, she's like I was five years ago."

"What's that?"

"Lonely. But don't let her know I said that."

"Oh, Jack." Tooth disregarded the 'don't enter the kitchen' rule and flew in to wrap him in a hug. Jack sputtered in protest, he was still uncomfortable with them, so Tooth pulled away quickly. 

"We don't deserve you, Jack Frost."

He frowned, but Tooth just smiled. Here was this little boy, thrust into the company of strangers and making them all love each other. To some extent. She'd hold off on her opinion of Mother Nature. 

"I'll see you in a few hours." She waved goodbye and made her way out.


	2. Family Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner with family that share opposite viewpoints is always tough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, um, yeah. Those of you who follow me on [ Tumblr ](unisaus.tumblr.com) might have seen a snippet of this before and heard be complain about how this was carrying me away. Well, it got worse and the designed 2 part is now....no idea. Things happened and I don't exactly know what to do about it.

Jack directed the mini fairies towards the Island of Sleepy Sands. Being not tied to a landmass, Sandy had directed it to hang around off the east coast of the United States to allow for a quicker delivery.

"Come on girls! You can do it!"

The twenty or so fairies under the turkey puffed with pride and recovered their lost attitude.

Suddenly, a warm wind rose up from beneath and all the fairies twittered excitedly at the extra height boost. The wind shifted direction, heading east, and the pace picked up.

Jack knew it wasn't a normal wind. Wind his friend had been pulled away from him a second before, only to return much warmer to help the fairies fly. He hadn't been able to help much before, cold wind and tropical fairies rarely mixed well together, and there were only two people who'd be able to take Wind away from him so suddenly.

Old Man Winter, who had no business in this part of the country this time of the year, and Mother Nature. Mother was the only one who could warm Wind however.

Jack looked around for the one guest he had actually invited and found her standing on a cloud above him. Slowly, she floated down to him.

Mother Nature had dressed up. She always wore clothes that matched the season she appeared in, but usually they weren't so elaborate. Today her gown was made of pressed leaves, rich in golds and reds. Her shoes were carved petoskey stones, there were marigolds in her hair and she wore a crown of new pumpkin stems. Wrapped around both forearms were branches covered in red berries.

Jack felt a little silly wearing his hide pants and sweatshirt.

"You look lovely."

"This is a party, isn't that normal?"

"It is. I'm surprised to see you here, you lose track of time a lot. I half way expected you to show up in three years thinking only three days had passed."

Mother Nature blushed, but for once didn't mutter excuses under her breath.

"I am here early, Jack Frost, because I require your help getting dressed."

Jack coughed into his hand and he fairies around them gave scandalous little gasps.

"I'm, uh, not good at that sort of thing."

"This you are." She glided in front of him. "I want a frost pattern on the leaves."

"Oh, that's easy." Jack reached out to touch her dress near the collar bone and frost spiraled from his fingers. Ferns unfurled along the leave stems and in honor for the holiday he encouraged a variety of gourds and full stems of grains to fill in the empty spaces.

Mother Nature looked down and nodded in appreciation. "Your style is much better than Old Man Winter's."

"He's old. He doesn't care about style at all. But why my frost? If you really wanted it, you could have done it yourself."

"You're my elemental, and soon to be my Winter. You  _are_ mine and will serve me."

Jack pulled up short to float with his arms crossed. "I get it, you're staking your claim, but I've never been one for following directions and just cuz things are changing now doesn't mean I'm just going to serve you. But," he relaxed and threw his staff over his shoulder. "We can be friends. I help out friends whenever they need it."

Mother Nature sniffed and turned to continue flying east. They flew on in silence, the beat of fairy wings the only noise. Eventually, they spotted a golden glow on the horizon that quickly reveled itself into an island of golden sand. True to dreams, it slowly morphed from one shape into another. As they approached, Jack noticed the cornucopia it had been start sprouting tail feathers.

"I thought about what you said," Mother Nature said as they started slowing down and descending, "And figured I'd at least talk to them for more than five minutes. They proved me wrong before, I'm slightly hoping they do it again. Eternity can be..."

"Boring?" Jack suggested. He certainly knew the feeling, more than once he had gone decades without contact and entertaining oneself got old and hard to do fast. At least Mother had the assistance of working with plants who slowly changed due to genetics. Jack? Well, the only variety he had was the fashion kids wore as they walked through him.

He shook the dark thoughts off. They were firmly in the past, with no risk of cropping up in the future. Besides, he had learned early on it was better to avoid the dark road then start down it and try to turn around.

Mother Nature glared at him. "Nothing so simple as that. I have learned a lot of ways to entertain myself." Thunder rolled in the background and Jack had a feeling that Mother enjoyed hitting people with lightening a lot more then he had thought she did. "You'll see. Give it a thousand years and you'll start to understand."

"Start? Mother, just how old are you?"

The brambles around her arms grew thorns and lashed out to slash his hand. Jack hissed and Baby Tooth flew up into Mother's face, feathers puffed. Jack quickly cupped her in a hand and pulled her to his chest.

"Surely Toothiana has already introduced you to the concept of never asking a lady her age."

"Noted."

Jack spotted Sandy waving from a window. While the core of the Sandman's home never changed, the routes leading to it certainly did and they had discovered the second year that Jack and the fairies needed help getting to the kitchen each time. "There he is girls! Right were I think that shifting turkey's left eye is gonna be."

The fairies twittered in agreement and changed course. They flew through the kitchen window, some dropping their dishes there and others flying through to the table in the next room to set them down. Jack put on a burst of speed to land first and Mother Nature landed daintily beside him.

"Sandy, Mother Nature. Mother Nature, Sandy."

They glared at each other and then Sandy stabbed a finger towards the window. Jack and Mother turned around to see what he was pointing at. The small collection of storm clouds that Mother had cast a bit ago in alignment with her mood and mild displeasure at Jack. Jack's attention turned back to the golden Guardian as Sandy took his hand. The thorn cuts there were nearly healed, just small scabs in a row that reminded Jack of raindrops on a fast moving car.

Jack had a feeling he knew where this was going.

Sandy zoomed up to Mother Nature's face, jerking Jack forward as the dreamweaver waved Jack's hand in Mother's face. The Guardian had obviously seen her attack Jack and didn't not approve. The look on Mother's face though was just confusion.

Jack snagged his hand back. "Look. It's nothing Sandy, Mother was just upset I asked her age and it's nothing serious. I promise."

Sandy pointed towards the clouds outside, which were now darker. There was a large 'X' over his head.

"I will not listen to your commands, Sandman. I'm Mother Nature and cannot be ordered around by someone as  _unnatural_ as-"

"Whoa there!" Jack quickly stepped between them with his hands raised. "You guys both promised no powers and weapons. It's something you agreed to, Mother, and Sandy is just reminding you. Not telling you what to do. Disperse the storm."

She turned her glare from Sandy to Jack.

"Please, Mother."

With a sigh, she took a step back and flicked a hand toward the window. The clouds disappeared and Jack released the tension in his shoulders. Sandy nodded at Mother Nature and then promptly ignored her in favor of Jack.

Jack found himself wrapped into a hug and then gifted with an image of a cartwheeling seastar. He laughed, touching it, and his frost gave the seastar the ridges it was lacking. "Are the others here yet?"

Sandy nodded.

"Right, we should heat this stuff up fast then. Help me get them into the oven?"

Sandy answered by forming mini sand clouds under the few dishes in the kitchen.

"No need." Mother put her hand over the turkey. It glowed softly, a dull orange color, and Jack knew she was warming up the air around the stuffed entree. "I promised to not use Nature for smiting, that doesn't mean I can't use it to help."

Sandy gave her a flat look, but allowed her to go from dish to dish. Jack had a feeling it would take more than help reheating things to get Mother on any of the Guardians' good side.

His prediction was proved right when he entered the dining room and the friendly chatting from the other Guardians paused as they noticed Mother Nature walk in behind Jack. He did a quick sweep, no swords or boomerangs in sight and quickly took a few steps backs to place his staff against the kitchen wall. It wasn't like he hadn't learned to access his power without it at this point, and it was only fair that if everyone else had promised to be weaponless he should leave his at the door too.

"I'd like to officially introduce you all to Mother Nature. Mother, this is Nicolas St. North, E. Aster Bunnymund, and Toothiana." Jack swept his hands from Mother to the seated Guardians, taking note of the food already laid out, and suddenly remembered all the milk and cheese in Sandy's fridge. He should get that. It would be rude to not have anything out that Mother could eat.

"Welcome!" North stood up and made his away around the table, hand extended towards Mother Nature.

Jack figured nothing could go wrong during greetings and slipped back into the kitchen, waving at a dozen fairies to follow him. Quickly he took out the many bottles of milk and jars of honey he and Jamie had found and did his best to arrange them artfully on plates. Jack kept glancing towards the dinning room. North and Mother weren't visible, but Bunny was twitching like he was restraining himself and Jack picked up the pace.

"Come on ladies, can't keep everyone waiting." Jack herded the tooth fairies in front of him through the doorway.

North had his hands in fists and Mother Nature was wearing the face she wore before conjuring up class five hurricanes. Jack was both happy he had insisted on people leaving the magic and weapons outside and sad the parts of his family couldn't get along for at least five minutes.

"Alright! Who's hungry?" All heads snapped around to him and Jack could see them each struggle to come down from the adrenaline. Whatever had been said? "Take a seat, I'm starving."

Mother Nature looked down her nose at North, despite being shorter, and took the seat the farthest away from him. Which of course meant that they were at opposite ends of the table and could continue glaring at each other.

Jack immediately pushed for her attention.

"I know you only eat milk and honey and since it's a holiday I wanted to get you something special. But I didn't know what you liked, so Jamie and I got a bit of everything. We have a variety of honey from different places, I'd recommend the white one from Tigray, and we got milk from different animals. Cow, goat, elk-"

Mother Nature cut him off with a hand on his arm. It was much gentler than the touches he was used to from her. "Thank you Jack, but I would have been okay with simple items."

"I wanted you to have a nice time, cuz you're family. That's important to me." Judging by the shifting forms he saw out the corner of his eyes, the Guardians had heard him. It wasn't anything new, Jack already knew they were only behaving because of him. He was fine with that. You had to start somewhere.

"Thank you." She looked like she wanted to say more, but present company held her tongue.

Jack nodded and took his seat next to Tooth and across from Bunny.

There was a moment of silence and then North cleared his throat. "Time to carve turkey I am thinking." He stood up, knives in hand, and started slicing the bird up.

Jack glanced towards Mother Nature, seeing how'd she handle the sight, but she seemed to be okay with others eating meat even if she didn't. That was a load off his chest.

They all passed their plates up in silence for North to fill and then began the slow procession of food dishes around the table. There were polite 'please pass the stuffings' and 'one scoops or two' that was driving Jack a little crazy. Sure, he wasn't a conversationalist. Sandy chatted more, even though it was with sand, but this stiff minimal conversation was starting to get to him.

He wanted to say something, but Jack had no idea how to start the conversation. He was never good at this. Eyes wide with a slight pout, he turned to Tooth next to him. She took one look, sighed dramatically, and then leaned forward just a tad to see Mother Nature.

"So, Mother Nature, what do you normally do for Thanksgiving?"

"Nothing. The holiday usually passes by with out my noticing it."

Silence.

"Well then, do you do something special every year during Fall?"

Mother glared at here. "I'm one with Gaia. Fall isn't something that only comes once a year for me. Are you suggesting I'm not aware of what goes on during the cycle of the world?"

"What? No! I'm just-"

"Mother doesn't actually leave her garden much, and it's always Spring there."

The spirit at the end of the table quickly pulled a glass of milk up to her face and Tooth looked relieved at avoiding a word war.

"Plus," Jack continued, "I don't think I every really explained Seasonal very well before. Mother Nature doesn't actually do any work for the seasons, the Seasonals do. If there's something Demeter does that's special though, you'll have to ask her. I've never had a proper conversation."

"No?" Bunny asked. "Why not?"

Jack shrugged. "Seasonals are super busy. She's always been doing something when our paths cross and was always too preoccupied to talk."

"What are you doing running into her?" Mother asked. "Normally Seasonals are only where the season is at its peak. For you to have seen her meant you were not staying in your season like you were supposed to." Her fists clenched and Jack suspected that if they were in her garden Jack would have found himself wrapped in tree bark. Bunny and North both shifted forward in their chair, sensing the desire to harm.

Slowly, Mother Nature released her fingers and dipped a spoon into a small bowl of honey.

Across the table, Sandy was creating a mini movie. There was Jack hopping and flying from one place to another, moving fast if the blur was any indication.

"You got it Sandy! I can never stay still. I have to keep moving around to spread belief after all."

"That will stop of course."

"What?" Jack gasped, whipping his head around to stare at Mother Nature.

"You're a Guardian, I can't deny that, not with the Man-In-The-Sky and the Woman-In-The-Earth have spoken. No one can say no to the Moon and Gaia. But you are both Jack Frost, Guardian and Seasonal. You can inspire belief in yourself while staying firmly in winter and carrying out tasks there. Having the belief of children is nice, but for you not necessary. It's not a priority."

"Now see here." Bunny stood up, chair clattering to the ground with the speed of which he pushed back the solid sand. "Jack can do what he wants. He can be a Seasonal his way, and there's no logical reason he can't hang out with the kids in autumn or spring."

"I know Old Man works hard, but he had time to train me before. There were periods of breaks."

"Breaks, Jack Frost, he only had because he's had centuries to get in the habit. As you should have by now. You can't tell me you've learned a great deal more in how to channel your magic from this oaf." She flapped a hand in North's direction.

North promptly dropped his silverware and Jack winced at the noise. This was so getting out of hand.

"I am much better teacher than Old Man Winter. He has messed up Jack's magic, he will always have to use staff for large spells. Jack's core is too entwined with conduits, cannot fully be used without a focus. This is dangerous, and all because your Seasonal thought funny to lock Jack in ice meant to hurt."

"And we don't like it that you regularly hurt Jack either." Bunny added, arms crossed over his chest.

"I am  _Mother Nature_ and Nature is never one for kindness all the time. There are sunny days and monsoons, months without sunlight or rain, earthquakes that rattle the ground beneath your feet even as the most beautiful rainbow you have ever seen fills the sky." She stood up slowly, purposely. There was a stiff breeze coming in from the windows, the sky dark and the sound of tall waves breaking on the island. "Nature is nature; good, bad, neither and how I treat those below me is none of your concern. You may all be powerful for spirits, loved by many, but don't forget you  _are beneath me._ Don't you dare chastise me!"

"Guys, please. Please don't fight." Jack directed his words to his dinner plate, but he knew everyone had turn to look at him. He refused to let the tears fall and Tooth's gentle hand on his thigh helped with that.

This was Thanksgiving. This was a time for family. He hadn't expected things to go smoothly. Silence and stares, a few heated but quickly choked off snarky lines, Mother to not stay for dessert. Those he expected. Jamie's family dinners didn't always go smoothly either. But this was an absolute disaster.

"Sorry Jack," North grumbled and the Cossack sat down. Bunny followed but Mother Nature still stood at the foot of the table.

"I'm leaving. I don't have to sit here with you. Jack, come."

"No."

"What?"

Jack honestly hadn't expected that word to slip out of his mouth and hunched, preparing for the lightening bolt, but it didn't come. Cracking open an eye, he saw Mother Nature snarling at him. "What did you say?"

Jack sat up straighter and turned to face Mother. "I get it, Nature isn't always nurturing. I learned that long ago. Most things aren't. But like I said as we flew in here, I won't serve you. I'll help you instead. I am Old Man Winter's elemental, and soon to be your Seasonal, but you'll never control me like that Mother. I won't come when called."

Lightening flashed and the only reason Jack wasn't electrocuted was Tooth's fast reflexes. She had pulled him out of the way, pushing him behind her, but Jack quickly stepped around the fairy queen. Right now, the issue wasn't Mother and the Guardians getting along. It was her expectations of eternity.

The rest of the Guardians were standing too and Jack could tell they were missing their weapons. Well, except for Sandy who could summon whips from his hands or floor. But the Sandman had yet to do anything other conjure a giant T-rex beside himself that looked ready to eat Mother Nature.

"Jack Frost, I may loose myself in time and Gaia may not tell me everything, but now that I know...you are  _mine_ . Have been for 300 years and I'm upset at you for not finishing your training just as I'm upset with Old Man Winter for not seeking you out earlier. But now that I know-"

"I've told you before! This is where I belong!" Jack swept his hand back to encompass the Guardians.

"You've told me all about how you feel happy with children." Mother Nature's face softened and Jack too recalled the conversation in her tree house with the two of them plus Old Man. Jack had been crying, thinking that something that brought him such joy was going to be taken away. Had been willing to destroy his magical core to continue to be a Guardian.

"I am not telling you to stop playing with children, Jack. I am not telling you to stop coming to their aid when the aurora appears. I am telling you that it will be a side job, a hobby to work around your tasks as Winter."

"Now wait a minute, shelia!" Bunny started but got cut off by Tooth flying forward to stand next to Jack, hand on his shoulder.

"We obviously need to have this conversation, about how Jack can properly attend to both his duties. But it will not be you simply giving him orders!" Tooth's tail fanned out. "It should be a discussion, built around what Jack wants, because he's the one at the center of this. It needs to be polite, none of this shouting, and certainly without lightening and dinosaurs!"

She switched her glare from Mother Nature to Sandy. The Sandman looked down to the floor and scuffed his foot against an invisible floor a few inches in the air, a young embarrassed child.

"This is Thanksgiving," Tooth continued. "And I for one would like to eat in peace without my little brother getting upset and possible injured."

Jack whirled around to stare at Tooth.

He had always thought of the Guardians as family, had said it multiple times and thought it even more, but he had never heard any of them share the same sentiments. They were Jack's family, but he was their friend. But that was okay, having uncles and cousins in his head was enough. Then here was Tooth, claiming to not just be family, but immediate family. Siblings.

"You mean that?" he breathed.

"Of course." Tooth placed a chaste kiss on his forehead and Jack had never felt happier.

Which is of course when Mother struck.

"What part of  _I'm more powerful_ and  _he's mine_ don't you understand? This is not a discussion, this is me being kind enough to allow Jack to continue doing something he wants to. He is my elemental, and such  _mine to command!_ " 

Mother marched forward, her heels turning to boots, the brambles around her arms morphing into spears even as her dress of leaves turned into beech bark pants and chain mail made of Indian corn.

"You Jack Frost, will spend then next century at Old Man Winter's side or in his palace, learning how to care for Winter."

Jack froze, feeling the command deep in his bones. He opened his mouth to protest but found he couldn't. The air was filled with electricity and the sand around them was glowing with the charge.

"Furthermore, I forbid you to do more than wave or smile at any child you see during that time."

_No!_ Jack screamed but he found no air in his lungs to push out past his lips to speak. There was something solid in his chest, something painful. He feel to his knees, Tooth instantly at his side.

Mother stuck out her hand and Jack's staff flew into it. In her hands, it glowed green. "I'm sending you to the South Pole." She tossed it at him and as soon as Jack came in contact with his staff he felt himself teleport away, a feathery presence at his side.

"Bring them back!" North boomed, knives in his hand instead of swords even as Sandy had the floor wrap around Mother Nature's feet.

Mother just laughed. "I told you, I have command over nature. And spirits are part of that. Aside from you lot."

She spat on the ground and Bunny tossed a salad plate at her. Mother easily deflected it.

Her face wasn't as fierce now, North noted, and there was something about the way she kept looking at the spot Jack and Tooth had disappeared from that didn't fit with a raving dictator exhorting her power.

Mother took one look around the room, the table with its food and filled plates, the small collection of treats just for her. She easily slipped free of Sandy's hold and made her way to the foot of the table. Gently, she placed each small bowl of honey on a plate and North couldn't find it in himself to attack out of confusion.

"Happy Thanksgiving," Mother Nature said sadly and disappeared.

North, Sandy, and Bunny were left standing alone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Tooth find themselves in the South Pole and learn just how powerful Mother Nature's commands are.

Tooth didn't expect the icy blast of wind that slammed into them. Instantly, she huddled into Jack's side. It didn't help much, but the idea of it gave her comfort. 

"Where are we?" she asked after the wind died down.

It certainly wasn't any place she recognized. There was a lot of ice without the background mountain ranges that would be near North's place. In fact, she squinted her eyes, that looked rather like a giant wall of ice in front of them through the wind blown snow.

"We're exactly where Mother sent me, the South Pole. Come on, let's go some place warmer. I can't believe she actually sent me here!"

Jack pulled Tooth to her feet and together they hopped on the wind. Tooth noted it took more effort than normal, her muscles were having a hard time moving with enough speed in this cold to keep her elevated. It would be tough going to leave the Pole, but hopefully once she got going flying would be easier. 

"Come on." Jack led the way, flying through the large area that Tooth now recognized as a courtyard and towards an opening in the ice wall. She followed behind, putting in extra effort to get her blood moving and passing Jack with a smile on her face. 

His eyes narrowed, getting ready for a race, when they crossed the threshold of the doorway.

Or rather, Tooth crossed the threshold. Jack slammed up against something invisible. 

"Oof!" He shouted and Tooth turned to see what was going on. Jack pushed his hands against air, not able to leave the ice castle. Tooth flew back in, unaffected by any barrier, to hover by his side. 

"Try different spots?" she suggested and Jack did. Up, down, left, right, it didn't make a difference. Not even speed, though when he hit the barrier at high speed Tooth cringed as Jack hit it so hard he blacked out for a few seconds. 

"I can't leave." Jack looked out towards the rest of the Pole and then turned to look at her. His eyes were wide in horror. "I didn't realize Mother Nature had _this_ much power! She's never done something like before! She can't _do_ this!"

"Ap-parently, sh-she can." Tooth rubbed her hands over her arms, the cold was really starting to get to her. She might have feathers, but she lacked the proper down of birds and was noticing it took more effort for her lips to form words then it should.

Jack reached out to her, but quickly pulled his hands back. "Sorry I can't warm you up. You should go. It's too cold here for you. Leave and let the others know that we're alright at least."

Tooth shook her head. "I'm n-not leaving you J-jack." Her whole body shivered and she lost a foot of air. It was becoming really hard to stay up. "I l-like Old-d Man W-winter even le-less than M-mother N-nature."

Jack gave her a small, sad smile and Tooth couldn't help but reach over to take his hand. True, he couldn't give her any type of warmth, but there were other types of comfort. Like knowing one wasn't alone and sharing burdens. 

"Come on then, I know of a place that might warm you up."

Jack led the way, Tooth trailing behind as they still held hands. It was cute, she thought, how he didn't let go and she recalled his face when she had called him her little brother. This was family, taking care of each other. Tooth wasn't going to leave him here alone to deal with whatever Mother Nature and Old Man Winter were planning. 

They passed a few buildings, all made of ice of course, and a few creatures Tooth could only imagine were ice giants. Eventually, Jack took them to the door of a stable. There was lights coming from the windows, but the ice was too thick to see inside. Jack led her through one of the windows, it was easily six feet tall, and Tooth gasped as she realized just what type of animal this stable housed. 

Mammoths. Giant wooly mammoths. 

They all turned to watch them enter, some pausing in their chewing to stare. Jack set down in the aisle between the eight open stalls and a few turned around to continue looking at them. While it was warmer in here, such large animals gave off a lot of body heat, Tooth wasn't sure she liked the way they were getting stared at. The mammoths were large enough that a yeti would look small riding on one, with tusks easily as wide as she was. 

One of the mammoths on the end of the left row was pawing the ground and Tooth wasn't surprised when it started trotting towards them with it's head down. 

She jumped in front of Jack, raising into the air and preparing to attack. No one, or no animal, was hurting Jack on her watch!

But Jack just laughed and pushed her arms down, flying around her to land on the mammoth's head and proceeded to scratch behind it's ear. 

"Hey Marion. Told you I'd visit, didn't I?"

The mammoth, to Tooth's amazement, sat down on the stable floor and gave a small trumpet of pleasure. This mammoth did look familiar, she supposed it could be the same one Old Man Winter rode when he attacked the North Pole. 

After a moment, Jack waved her over and Tooth nervously complied. Jack seemed friendly with them, but they were so huge. 

"Tooth, Marion. Marion, Tooth. Marion's Old Man's favorite mammoth. And Marion, Tooth's my big sister, so play nice."

It felt nice, hearing Jack call her his sister. They were equally claimed by each other now, making her realize just how much she had missing such a claim since her parents had been murdered. 

Marion stuck her trunk out, and Tooth gently laid her hand on it in greeting. Wooly mammoths, she figured, weren't too different from elephants. Just a lot hairier. 

She looked up at Jack. He was smiling, having moved over to Marion's other ear to scratch, but Tooth couldn't get the image of Jack out of her head from when Mother Nature had stated her commands. He had had a look of pain on his face, and if Mother Nature's words had the power to keep Jack here she hated to think about her command regarding children. 

_**I forbid you to do more than wave or smile at any child you see!** _

Her blood boiled just thinking about it. 

"Jack?"

"Yeah?" He paused the scratching.

"What are we going to do about this?" 

Jack drooped, his entire body loosing altitude. "I'll have to talk to Mother, get this straightened out. I know she thinks she's being kind-"

"Kind!? Jack, she banished you to the South Pole and cut you off from the children!"

"Trust me, that's kind for her."

Tooth recalled the lightening strikes flashing through Sandy's home, the tornado that had sucked Jack away them first time, the bees Jack had mentioned Mother Nature had set on him once. Yes, this might be kind in her mind. There was no physical violence. 

But Jack was aware of other kinds of hurt, was very familiar with them, and this reeked of that. 

Tooth didn't want to see him depressed again.

"Tooth, listen. You don't say no to Mother Nature. Old Man tried not to take me in at first, but he was forced to. And look, here I am thrust upon him for a second time. Even...even last time she only bent because those with more power told her too."

"What are you trying to say Jack, just go with this?"

"Yes."

"Jack, no! She said a century! A century of following Old Man Winter around, of not playing with the children-"

"It's not that different from before." He shrugged nonchalantly and Tooth cursed herself for not knowing Jack well enough to determine if he was putting up a front or not. 

She knew, they all knew, Jack had spent a hundred and fifty years under the care of Old Man Winter. He never went into it much, but North had picked things out and shared them from the magic lessons he had given Jack. Winter had heavily believed in self-teaching and negative reinforcement. Jack had to learn, and learn fast, to avoid getting hurt. Unfortunately, the only thing he learned quickly was the physical components of getting out of reach. He followed Old Man Winter, with the Seasonal showing off his power every chance he got, and Jack had no one else, other than Marion, to interact with because the children didn't know his story.

Stockholm syndrome, Bunny had mentioned one day, and while not exactly right Tooth found it fit. Jack had only gotten rough treatment and didn't see how wrong it was. 

And now, he had been forced back into the same situation. Worse, he didn't seem to care as much as Tooth thought he should. 

"I'm not leaving you in Old Man Winter's hands for a century, Jack Frost. You're my little brother, I'm not letting him treat you like that again, and I'll do everything in my power to stop that."

"Tooth." He smiled at her in fond exasperation and Tooth found herself wanting to scream. Because he still didn't get it, that what Old Man Winter did wasn't right. Jack was probably more worried about when he'd see the Guardians and how to interact with Jamie. 

"I mean it Jack. He screwed up your magic already, and he'll do it even worse. And you need to interact with the kids. Jamie and the other kids from Burgess are spreading your story, but if it follows the patterns ours did it's going to plateau and will need the nudge a play day with you could bring. "

"And I mean it when I say I'll go along with Mother's command. For now." He held up a hand to cut off her protest. "I'll give it a few years, learn a lot, and ask her to reconsider. What you said before was right, we need to have a conversation about expectations and role balance, but Mother's not gonna want to talk."

"And in the meantime, you'll stay here?" She crossed her arms, not happy about this at all. But she had meant what she had said at Sandy's. Jack was the center piece here. He should have the most say and now that she had said her piece had she should do nothing more. Despite wanting to pull him away to the Palace, hide him in a pillow storage room, and have North teleport in and out of said room on a weekly basis to continue his magic lessons. 

"I'm sure we'll leave every once in awhile. Gotta spread winter after all."

Tooth sighed. She hated this cold with a passion she thought she had held in reserve for Pitch, but she'd bare it. For Jack. 

"If you're staying, I'm staying."

"What?! Tooth!"

"Like I said before, _I'm not leaving you alone with Old Man Winter_. And besides, it's too cold for me to fly properly. I wouldn't get very far."

"Oh, I can help with that."

Tooth's head shot up to find Old Man Winter, with his full beard and wispy hairs on his head, swinging his feet as he sat in a rafter above them. How long he had been there, Tooth had no idea. 

Old Man jumped down, the wind catching him so his robes fluttered majestically as approached the floor. Tooth took a step closer to Jack.

"See, Mother Nature just payed me a visit. Said something about forcing me to finish Jack's apprenticeship. And I'm not in a position to say no. Mother also told me to take out any obstacles to my teaching him." He landed on the floor and tossed something into the air to catch in his hand. It flashed gold.

"Catch, Tooth Fairy."

He hurtled the item at Tooth and she instinctively caught it. In a flash, she was staring at North's globe. She looked down at her hands. It was one of her own coins, no doubt charmed by Mother Nature to act like a teleport. She had done something similar to Jack's staff...was it only an hour ago? Thought she was fairly certain she hadn't expected the staff to sent both her and Jack to the South Pole.

"Tooth!" 

She turned her head around to see North, Bunny, and Sandy rushing towards her. 

"Where's Jack? What happened?" Sandy flashed sand images in a similar vein. 

"I got sent to the South Pole. And oh, it's awful. Jack can't leave, Mother Nature's words turned into a spell that's binding. Oh North, he was _okay_ with it, he didn't seem distressed by the century at all, and I told him I was not going to leave him there by himself and was going to stay, but then Old Man Winter showed up and tossed at coin at me that had me appear here."

"Hold up," Bunny held up a paw. "Jack went off the deep end trying to find away to not be a Seasonal and he just gave up like that?"

"Well, not exactly. He said Mother Nature was being kind, and so seemed confident that after a few years would be able to change things."

"Few years? Too long." North huffed. "I don't like Jack being with Winter for more than few months. And that thing about not being with children, that is no good." 

Sandy nodded vigorously in agreement. 

"Let's go back to the South Pole. It's too cold for me to fly myself, but if we take the sleigh it should be fine." 

"Ay, let's go."

Even Bunny didn't complain as they took off and North tossed a snow globe into the air. 

Tooth had expected Old Man Winter to put up a fight, call up a blizzard to isolate the castle or something, but the weather was pristine. Sun. No clouds. The ice of the castle below sparkled like diamonds. From above, the complex looked huge. Tooth hadn't realized it was that big while she had been in it. 

"This is place, Tooth?" North asked. 

"Yeah." She peered over the side of the sleigh, looking for signs of life below. A mammoth. Old Man Winter. Jack. But it was still. 

North landed the sleigh and Bunny sprung out first, paws twitching. Tooth felt the same need to _do something_ , but now that they were here she realized they had rushed in without a plan. What were they going to do, convince Old Man Winter to go against Mother Nature? Knock him out and take Jack with them? How would they break the barrier?

This had been way too rash.

But apparently not rash enough. 

The Old Man Winter's ice castle at the South Pole was completely empty. No ice giants. No wooly mammoths. No Old Man Winter. And no Jack Frost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! But chapter 4 is half-way written, so hopefully it's not too far away. And a new chapter of White Haired Youth Club is also majorly written. Except, well, Jack has it better off here than in Amity Park.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seven years without hearing a word from Jack is far too long.

Jack's idea of 'a few years' obviously was a bit different than theirs. When the Guardians had realized Old Man Winter had left his home, taking Jack with him, North had coaxed every detail from Tooth about her time with Jack at the South Pole. 

North had expected the boy to hash things out with Mother Nature after a year or two. 

Not seven. 

None of his original believers still believed, Jack had been absent too long and they grew up. And when they had believed, they had kept a look out for the elemental. Bunny had told them a story about Jack having to help Old Man Winter and being really busy, so they hadn't expected snow days. But none of them had even _seen_ Jack. 

No child had. For seven years. 

Jack's belief basis was waning. 

The only thing that kept it going, in North's humble opinion, had been the other Guardians' own efforts at story telling. Sandy crafted Jack in dreams and North gave out storybooks featuring Jack for Christmas. Tooth had even changed the coins she used, one side imprinted with the G motif and the other with different silhouettes of the Guardians. Her fairies shamelessly gave out more Jack Frost coins than any other. 

Bunny did what he could, but Easter and Jack Frost never mixed. Snowflake eggs just flopped and so he had turned his focus to creating North's storybooks. 

"They are actively avoiding us. I stopped by Mother Nature's place, again, yesterday. Her rose bushes attacked me, but there was no sign of her. There never is." Bunny frowned at the page before him, a sketchy Jack Frost on the paper. "Mother Nature was always hands off, she lost track of time. But you could find her at home, if you knew where her home was. Which we do now. And Old Man Winter typically kept to himself, but you saw evidence of him. Even now he hasn't returned to his castle in the past seven years and we still see evidence of him."

"But no evidence of Jack."

"Yeah." 

North saw Bunny slump from the corner of his eye. At first, while no one had actually seen Jack they knew had was alright by the frost patterns the little tooth fairies found on windows. But they hadn't seen those patterns in two years. And now, as North frowned at a Globe showing only believers in Jack Frost, he couldn't help but wonder if Jack's diminishing belief base was a result of that. 

Jack had three believers. Three. 

He became a Guardians with seven, he had almost three hundred and fifty by the time Mother Nature had commanded him to finish his apprenticeship, and now he had three.

No. 

Two.

"He lost another."

Bunny swore and gave up on his drawing. He came to stand next to North and stared at the two cluster of lights. Both in Burgess, no surprise there.

"I know Jack's got a different engine then us, but I still don't like him having so few believers. What had Gaia said about his new core again?"

"That is was connected to Winter the way we are connected to children."

"Yeah, but what does that mean?" Bunny tugged on his ears and North wanted to also tug on his hair.

It had been a question North had spent time trying to figure out with Jack in the few months between Gaia's announcement and Thanksgiving. Changing a spirit's magical core always shifted things around and how Jack's had shifted was very much unknown. Manny had never answered his questions these past few years. All North knew was that it involved Jack's role as both Guardian and Seasonal. 

And the power source for one of those was almost gone.

* * *

North had spent the last two days in the Globe room. He didn't like the fact that Jack only had two lights to his name, it made his belly clench in fear, and so he stared and stared at them. Maybe the force of his will would keep those children believing. 

He took to sleeping on a couch in the room, waking up periodically to check on the belief lights. 

Still two lights. 

North hoped Sandy was giving only dreams of Jack that night.

* * *

North woke after his fourth night on the couch to a rush of wind. Mother Nature was looking at him from her position between the couch and the Globe, dressed in winter garments. Right away, North noticed something different about her. Gone was the elaborate outfits, where every detail had been beautiful. No, today she was wearing a patchwork arctic hare dress, ice slippers, and a simple necklace of frozen red buds still on the branch.

North got to his feet immediately. 

"Where is Jack?" he asked.

"Safe."

Safe, to North, meant here at the Pole. Or maybe the Warren, Tooth Palace, or the Island of Sleepy Sands. It did not mean someplace North did not know with people North did not trust. Which is where exactly he suspected Jack to be. 

"Jack would be safer here."

"With as weak magical barriers as you have constructed? I think not. He is much safer at the South Pole."

North kept his face blank, but inside he grinned. So Old Man Winter had finally returned home. The Guardians would be knocking on his gate very soon.

"Why are you here, Mother Nature?"

"I am here because...because I might have made a mistake."

"What type of mistake?"

The sound of snapping ice filled the room and North looked anxiously above him at the roof.

"Don't question me! I have more power than you, remember, freak? It is enough to know I have made one."

North would have still liked to know what type of mistake, so he could chortle over it later. 

"So you have made mistake what, breeding new deer and wish to use mine to fix it?"

She ground her teeth and the air filled with static electricity. North wiped the small smile off his face. 

He supposed it had to be a much bigger mistake, to come here not dressed to impress. She might be showing off her power now, but she hadn't when she had arrived. She had come and admitted something that probably took a lot of effort for Mother Nature to do. 

What type of mistake would make her bend so low? This was practically begging for her, now that his mind was awake and thinking logically. And she came here, specifically, to admit it to North. Why? Probably because he was the only one who could fix her mistake. But he was no magician compared to her. Compared to a Seasonal. Compared to Jack. She couldn't be here asking for magical help, no, it had to be related to North being a Guardian because that was the one thing she didn't know, didn't understand. And the only reason she would even be interested in Guardian things would be because of Jack - 

"Something has happened to Jack."

He knew it instinctively, he didn't need to see her quick nod. 

"Gaia did something to his core, it doesn't work like a proper Seasonal's, but she won't tell me how it works." She lifted her head, the proud Queen. "He's been tainted by the unnatural magic you Guardians have."

North ignored the way the word 'Guardian' sounded sour in her mouth. She had always looked down on them because the Guardians lacked a natural connection to the world. Their power did now wax and wane like the seasons, they did not die of spiritual old age. They stood out from the rest of the spirits of Earth and Mother Nature was simply the most powerful of those that disliked them.

"Tainted how?"

North flickered his eyes to the lights behind Mother Nature. One light now. He had failed to keep a proper vigil and watch the other go out. 

"He won't wake up."

North snapped his attention back to Mother Nature. 

"What do you mean, 'won't wake up?'"

"He is sleeping like an elemental preparing to return to the Earth, but that is impossible. Even if Gaia hadn't changed him, that's still roughly six hundred and fifty years off. It must be something from your taint."

"My 'taint' is what has gotten you an immortal Winter Seasonal. I thought you were happy about that."

Mother Nature sniffed.

North waited for her to outright say what she wanted, but when she simply stared at him he realize she wasn't going to make a request. Admitting a mistake was hard enough, she wasn't going to _actually_ ask for his help. 

There wasn't time for this! 

"Because I care for Jack, I will go see him. But I must send message to other Guardians. They are Jack's family and I may need their help."

"Fine," she snapped and North quickly beckoned a yeti over. Phil, of course. He was concerned about Jack too. 

"Phil, find others and give them snow globes. Tell them to join me at South Pole. Something is wrong with Jack."

Message delivered, North turned to Mother Nature. "Now come. Sleigh is this way."

"I am not taking your sleigh. I will not rely on any of your unnatural magic." Mother Nature grabbed his forearm and before North could blink he was standing in the center of Old Man Winter's courtyard. 

Over the seven years he had been coming to check to see if Jack was nearby, the castle had slowly filled back up. First the wooly mammoths had returned to the stable, and then the giants had come back from wondering the pole. The past year, it hadn't felt empty anymore but even when it had felt empty it had never given off such a desolate feeling. 

North turned to Mother Nature. She was in regalia again, the patch work arctic hare dress exchanged for a dress that reminded North of a frozen waterfall. Her frozen bud necklace had been replaced with a concave arch of blue icicles and she was now wearing a matching circlet. 

Even though he was worried about Jack, North had to ask about the atmosphere. "Why is air so heavy?"

Mother Nature scoffed. "I have told you many times, Jack is a Seasonal. He is tied to Winter and Winter him. When he is not doing well, it's evident in the elementals under his control and in the season."

"But surely, Old Man Winter is still Seasonal. He is not about to turn to ice soon."

"He still rules, yes. But he is starting to decline and his replacement is in no position to replace him. Surely, you've noticed the past few Winters being weaker and shorter."

North had, but he had never attributed it to the strength of a Seasonal. It had been Jack doing his best to help Easter, or related in some way to the Guardian's training. Perhaps part of the natural plan of Gaia. Winter's shifts hadn't bothered him, it had been the lack of Jack's frost that caused them all to worry. 

"Where is Jack?"

"This way."

Mother Nature led the way towards the Castle itself. North had wondered it's halls before, looking for Jack with the other Guardians, but even so he could not navigate it. Mother Nature led him to a door on the second story. 

"Through here," she said and then disappeared to wherever she had been spending the past seven years. 

It was not the bedroom he had been hoping it to be. Instead it was a library, and there was Old Man Winter not five feet away with his liver spotted hand hovering over a book spine.

North growled. "I wanted to see Jack, not you."

"Ah, yes, I expected that. But I wanted to talk to you before you see him."

North crossed his arms. "About what?"

"Jack, of course."  
"Why?" North had to force the words out from behind his teeth. He wanted as little to do with Old Man Winter as possible. He wanted to see Jack, wait for one of the others to appear, and then use a spare snow globe to whisk them all safely to the Pole. 

Old Man Winter leaned a shoulder against the bookcase, mimicking North's pose. He did look a bit more frail, North supposed, then the last time North had seen Winter. Winter stared at North's face and then sighed before looking away to the left.

"Jack talked about you. A lot. He kept comparing my teaching to yours, about how you were more theoretical and I was more practical. And I could tell it had helped him greatly when our lessons began. But I could also tell he would never wield the power of the season as well as me."

"Because of conduit."

"Yes." With another sigh, Winter looked at North. He looked regretful, an expression North never though he would see the Seasonal wear. "When he was with me at first, I wasn't ready to think about stepping down as Winter. Who wants to be replaced? And I may have taken it out on Jack."

"May?"

"Did. But I didn't realize I had made him dependent on a conduit until I attacked your home. When Mother gave him to me again, I tried to wean him off of it, but it didn't work as I expected."

"You tried to help him?"

"Why do you sound so surprised?"

North raised an eyebrow and Winter chuckled. 

"I suppose I deserved that. But with how eager Jack was about learning, and how happy he was when he talked about you, I realized I had done him wrong. I changed my teaching, based on what I figured worked from his stories about you and how Jack reacted to me. Before you saw him, I wanted you to know I did my best to make up for how I treated him before."

He held North's gaze, and North could feel the weight to his words. Jack, as was his habit, changed those around him. Made them realize how their connections to one another worked. North and the other Guardians had reconnected thanks to Jack, and now it seemed as if Jack had melted Old Man Winter's heart a bit. 

It was nice to know Jack's last seven years with Old Man Winter hadn't been as hellish as the first hundred and fifty. 

North nodded. "I believe you. And I thank you teaching him what you could."

"Thank you for believing in me." Winter gave a small grin, but then his brow furrowed. "As soon as I realized there was something wrong with his magic core, I wanted approach you or one of the other Guardians to figure out what was going on. Mother wouldn't let me."

"When was this?"

"Two years is when I really noticed the difference in his magic. But it got serious this past winter. Jack was napping throughout it all, I couldn't rose him to help me. And half way through, he stopped reacting to me at all. He slipped into the coma elementals often do before returning to the Earth."

"Jack has been sleeping since when?" 

"I don't keep exact dates, but around Valentine's Day."

It was the last day of April.

"Jack was sleeping for so long and you didn't come to get us sooner?!" North clenched his fists and Winter stood up straight. 

"I told you, I wanted to get you involved two years ago. Mother said no. She really doesn't like you guys."

"And you do?"

"Like I said, I was willing to go to you awhile ago. After hearing Jack talk about you all the way he did, I can't say you're bad for him. You care for each other, I'm wouldn't stop him from seeing you if that was in my power. I don't like you Guardians, I still feel you're unnatural, but I don't hate you like she does."

North nodded. He suspected as much, but it was nice to hear Old Man Winter confirm such things. The Seasonal was, at the very least, on Jack's side. Which is exactly where North felt the itch to be.

"Enough talk, show me Jack."

"This way." Old Man Winter stepped around him and into the hallway. 

He opened a door a few paces down to reveal a set of spiral stairs and started up them. North followed, noting through the small slit windows that they weren't climbing very high. A lower turret then, not one of the impressive ones you could see far off. What was interesting however was how wide it was. 

As they climbed, it got colder, and when Old Man Winter stepped through the open doorway at the top is was easy to see why. This wasn't a room so much as a look out point, large open spaces that looked over the courtyard below and let the wind swirl in the space. It was a pretty big space too, the brown fuzzy lump in front of him could only be a wooly mammoth. 

A burst of wind had North place a hand on his hat and he thought he felt a presence brush his check. Strange.

"I know this isn't your normal healing room, but Wind threw a fit when Jack was in an interior room and Marion's pretty attached to him too."

Old Man Winter had circled the mammoth - Marion, who North was now remembering the Seasonal had been riding when he had attacked the North Pole almost eight years ago - and was looking at something on the other side. North quickly moved to join him. 

There was a bed there, a large but simple one, and on it lay Jack. 

It was so wrong to see Jack so still.

North let a sound of distress escape his mouth and rushed forward to sit at Jack's side. He was simply lying on the bed, over the covers, so it was easy for North to cup the teen's cheek in his hand. A breeze - no, it had to be the wind Jack flew on - ruffled Jack's hair and little tendrils brushed North's knuckles. 

It was second nature for North to do a vital check. Fingers on Jack's wrist to check for a pulse, an ear against his mouth to check for breath. Nothing. Not that North had expected any different, Jack was eternally fourteen and only breathed for the sake of talking. He never had a pulse.

There were little things though that caught his attention. Though technically dead, Jack had always given the appearance of life thanks to his magic. A faint pink to his cheeks, a rose hint on his fingertips. Salmon colored lips. Now he was pale all over with a faint blue tinge to his toes, fingers, and lips, his body colder than North had ever felt from a hung. 

It was as if all that gave Jack energy had been sucked away, leaving a pale body behind. Jack had told them he had died, was this what he had been like under the ice before Manny's magic changed him?

North didn't want to think about that. Lacking his smart mouth and big eyes, Jack looked small enough. Imagining his death didn't help. Especially since in any other spirit this would be a prelude to that. 

"In addition to Wind putting up a fuss, I figured here was better than a room with just windows because it was closer to Winter." Old Man Winter spoke from behind North and the Guardian pulled his ear away from Jack's mouth. "My power is connected to the season, it makes me stronger and I had hoped it would do the same for him."

North opened his mouth to answer when the mammoth at the other side of the bed suddenly lifted her head and looked out towards the main gate of the compound. North could make out the iridescent swirl of a portal; the other Guardians had arrived.

Old Man Winter realized the same. "I'll go get them."

He left, leaving North alone with Jack which was perfectly okay with the Guardian. North brushed a stray lock out of Jack's face, touch delicate. 

Jack's strength against Pitch and his willingness to help the Guardians even after they had turned their backs on him during the Easter of 2012 had made North feel Manny had made a good choice in choosing Jack. Jack's habit of correctly guessing presents on their first Christmas run together had made North feel guilty and sparked a desire to help with Jack's loneliness. But when Jack had called them a family, when Tooth had come to them with the elemental's idea for a _family_ dinner for Thanksgiving, Jack Frost had buried his way deep into North's heart.

Jack Frost was someone who had endeared himself to the entire group of Guardians, and while Tooth had been the first to say out loud the first familial tie, North had been thinking it for years. Oh, he was too old to consider himself Jack's brother, and not assuming enough to use the label father. Jack had had one of those. But the fun uncle, who encouraged taught useful skills and spoiled his nephew...yes, that fit.

North had never said it aloud. Jack knew he cared, Jack knew they all cared, but just like hearing Old Man's admission of feelings earlier made things more real North felt a strong desire to do same. The stone in his belly made him wonder if he would ever get the chance.

"North!" Tooth's voice filled the air and North guessed she had zipped pass Old Man Winter on the stairs. 

"Over here, Toothy."

She appeared in a whirl of colors, giving a stray pat to the Marion as she flew over the mammoth, and then stopped to hover over Jack's bed. 

"Is he...?"

"He is still here. That is good sign."

"I guess." Slowly, Tooth lowered herself onto the blankets alongside Jack's head, legs folding under her. She brushed a finger over Jack's lips, pulling the top one up to see his teeth, before pulling her hand away. North always thought Tooth's tender touches were a bit strange. 

Her hands clenched in on her thighs and North found himself looking into her violent eyes, burning with anger. "Old Man Winter didn't tell us what he did to Jack, but when I find out I'm gonna pluck his beard out whisker by-"

"Whoa, Toothy. Not so fast." North threw his hands into the air. "Old Man Winter and I had talk. I do not think this is his fault."

"Well, it's sure someone's!"

"We don't know that. This seems to be problem with Jack's magic core. Only one to blame is Gaia, and would you really fight Earth itself?"

"For Jack, I would."

North shook his head. "Mother Nature has tried talking with Gaia. Like Manny, she is silent."

"Their silence has never lead to good things." Bunny appeared around Marion, Sandy floating at his side with Old Man Winter behind them. North pushed himself up from the bed, allowing his friends to perform their own checks of Jack. Through it all, the winter spirit lay unmoving aside from Wind playing with his hair. 

Sandy sent dreamsand towards Jack's head. It looped in a small circle, but did not turn into any of the ocean scenes Jack was so fond of. 

"What's that mean?" Bunny asked, pointing to the golden halo. 

Sandy answered through his usual pictograms. There was a sleeping child and two things were coming from his head: a set of Zs and a trail of dots leading to a cloud. As they watched, a large X appeared over the cloud. 

Sleeping, but not dreaming. 

They all frowned at the answer, but didn't say anything. Sandy kept the sand spinning there for which North was glad. Not dreaming, not being capable of dreaming, wasn't a good sign, but if that changed and the sand turned into dolphins that would be one. It was an active monitor that North found himself very grateful of. 

"You've seen him. Now let's try to figure out what's wrong with him so I can get back to training my replacement." Old Man Winter headed towards the staircase.

Tooth shot a glare at his back and even Sandy shook a fist at him. North's own face was frowning. He'd help find a way to help Jack, of course, but there was no way he was going to not have Mother Nature reverse her command. He had a sneaking suspicion it had been involved in causing Jack's coma.


	5. Yak Yak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was longer in coming then I told you guys it would be in on [Tumblr](uniasus.tumblr.com) and for that I apologize, but I am also moving in a few days. Cross country. Again.

North might have been the most magical of them all, but Aster was the healer. It came with the territory of Easter and hours in his Warren studying medicinal plants. He had to keep himself occupied during his off season after all.

Old Man Winter led them out of the tower and into the library. There was a mid sized circular table tucked between bookshelves and once seated Aster began quizzing the Seasonal.

"What's wrong with Jack?"

"If I knew, he wouldn't be sleeping." 

Aster glared at him. North put a hand on Aster's shoulder.

"You said before you wanted to talk to us when Jack first started being weird. Tell us about that." North leaned back in his chair, tone more civil than Aster expected. 

Well, this was Jack they were talking about. Putting aside grievances until he was better was understandable. But once Jack was on the road to recovery, Aster would be pulling Old Man Winter aside for more than a little chat.

"He...stopped playing. You all know Jack, that's what he does. Flies high in the air and dives back down, freezes things, calls up bursts of winds to get a reaction out of people. He liked throwing snowballs at the kids." 

Old Man did something Aster never expected to see. He gave a fond smile, but then it morphed into a familiar scowl.

"When I asked him why, he said he didn't feel up to it. Said he didn't have the energy. He didn't fly as high, he stopped creating designs on the windows. It meant he was really focused on the lessons I was giving, which was nice for all about three months. When I realized it was more then just a phase I started getting worried."

Sandy called up a golden phone and wiggled it.

"Why didn't you call us?" Aster translated.

"I wanted to. Mother Nature told me not to, to instead do my job at both bringing winter and teaching Jack."

"Next time I see her, I'm attacking her. I don't care that Jack likes her, she's constantly brushing aside his needs and -" Tooth buzzed with anger, rising off her chair.

"Easy, Toothy." North gently pushed down Tooth's raised fits and guided her back into her seat. "Save anger for later."

Aster made note of what Old Man said in a small journal he kept in his bandolier. Lack of energy.

"When did that start? Jack not being his usual self?" Aster asked.

"Two years ago, roughly. We moved with the season and didn't keep track of time."

Two years ago....right when they had started getting seriously worried about Jack. Not only because of the disappearing signs of him, but because that's when they had noticed the decline in Jack's believer base picking up.

It happened to all spirits, believers came and went. Some years you lost more than you gained, some years the reverse. Kids grew up, no longer believing in a Guardian, and kids shared stories. For Aster and the others, they had held steady for decades, Pitch's recent incident withstanding. Jack's belief base had grown since that fateful Easter and had just started to balance out at 350. It held there for a few years, give or take, and then two years ago had been a year with a larger dip in believers then average.

And it just kept falling.

Quickly, Aster wrote out a timeline of Jack's belief base since they started obsessively tracking it. 

2 years ago - larger than normal drop.   
18 months ago - first new believer in the drop  
1 year ago - 250 believers, and only 30 of whom were new  
6 months ago - 50 believers, no new ones  
2 months ago - 7 believers, Jack's original number

It hadn't been a steady decline, Jack lost believers in isolated communities first. Places where he had one or two kids only. But then larger collections had grown up, and when one kid stops believing their entire friend group usually follows shortly thereafter. Those groups had gotten younger and younger, kids still believing in the other Guardians but not Jack, and they hadn't passed along the elemental's story. 

It had snowballed, leading to a faster rate of belief loss and increasing stress for the rest of the Guardians. Aster peeked at Tooth, he didn't want to draw attention to it but her tail was thinner than it had been five years ago. North was a little rounder too - stress eating and less exercise as he spent days staring at the Globe.

He wondered if Jack's energy levels had a similar pattern. "Did Jack get worse gradually?"

Old Man shook his head. "It happened in jumps, I could tell within days something had happened. He had a good year of focused training, he didn't have the energy to run off and so listened to what I had to say and stayed close. And then one day he couldn't do a spell without his staff anymore - I'm pleased to say we managed to get him to do a lot without it, including a bit of flying. He had frosted whole houses just three days previously with his bare hands, but that day he couldn't. The look on his face..."

The Seasonal trailed off and Aster found himself trying to picture how Jack must have looked right then. It looked uncomfortably like the face the frost spirit had made when he had shown up in England with a tooth capsule instead of Baby Tooth. It also looked like Tooth's shock when her feathers started falling out at the Palace shortly after the teeth had been stolen.

Aster shook his head. He didn't like thinking such things. Sure, he and Jack weren't buddy buddy, but they had an understanding and Aster did care for the younger Guardian. It was hard not to, once he got to know Jack.

"You care." Tooth said.

Old Man blinked out of the memory and refocused on Tooth. "Of course I care. I've always cared about Jack. Not the same way as you four, obviously. But over these last few years I've come to enjoy his company and not resent Mother for shackling me with him. I could tell that despite his issues with magic, he'd do the job well. His form of winter will be different than mine, of course, but it'll still be a good one."

Tooth smiled at him and Sandy patted the Seasonal on a shoulder. Aster would have never bet on Jack melting Old Man Winter's heart. But since he had, maybe working on Mother Nature's wouldn't be too hard.

If Jack ever woke up to try it.

"Did Jack just fall asleep?"

"No. He started napping first. Like before, suddenly and out of the blue. He fell asleep around Valentine's Day. He wouldn't wake for anything. I shook him, took him to Hawai'i. I even had a baby mammoth sat on him. Nothing. I thought being here might help. It hasn't."

Aster wrote it all down in his notebook and frowned. Sudden differences in Jack's well being did not match up with the relatively steady, if accelerating, nature of his belief base disappearing.

If Aster's belief based had performed like Jack's had these past few years, there was a good chance he would have faded away. His speed would slow down first, it would be harder to open tunnels. Then his egg production would slow, his fur start to dull. And then of course, he'd go back to being the tiny rabbit he had been before the Moon chose him. Changing forms was a dire, last ditch attempt at staying alive. After that Easter morning, he'd had a pitiful (for him) support of 100 believers. By dinner it had been 6, and Pitch snuffed most of those out quite quickly.

Even if Pitch hadn't gotten those last few lights, Aster wouldn't have lasted long. None of them would have. Their tasks as Guardians required vast stores of magic. They would have all burned out quickly.

Which was something Jack had not done. He'd lasted, lingered. As if he was getting power not just from the belief of children, but something else too.

Aster hit himself in the forehead, startling the rest of the spirits around the table.

"You thought of something?" North asked, hope thick in his voice.

"Maybe. Old Man Winter, we know how Guardians' magic cores work - what about a Seasonal's? Or even just an elemental's?"

"How can you not know that?"

"The same way you don't know how we tick. Talk."

Old Man clucked as he shook his head slowly, almost mocking Aster for his lack of knowledge and disregarding the Seasonal's own knowledge gap. It made Aster grind his molars, but he didn't say anything. They could call each other stupid later.

"Gaia, to an extent. She and her brother, your Moon, are energy given life. And they in turn give us some of their energy when we are created. We power ourselves, but it's a little more complicated like that." Old Man Winter made it sound like being complicated made elementals better, but Aster was inclined to say the opposite. 

"The kinetic energy of orbit, the solar energy from the sun. The cycles of rain and death and growth. Nature's own movements affects our powers, through our affinities, and everyone has two. One to our season. It's connected to the wax and wane of our powers. I'm Winter, I'm strongest during my season and weakest in July. Of course, being a Seasonal, this difference is not very great and my power is greater than other spirits."

Aster nodded for him to continue. Some of this sounded familiar; Jack had given a very brief explanation once before when Old Man Winter had attacked the Pole but that had mostly been on spirit hierarchies. 

"Season affinity comes from when you were created. I was created in Winter. So was Jack."

"What about the second affinity?" Tooth asked.

"That is power based, and is I suppose is somewhat similar to how your own 'centers' work based on what Jack told me. Your core and powers are based upon you. More specifically, a strength you have and can share with children. They are very specific powers."

There were nods all around the table.

"For elementals, it's also based on the individual spirit. But instead of based on the inner nature of what you hold dear, it's the outer nature of how a spirit interacts with world. Air, earth, fire, and water as elements have their own personalities and spirits' main affinity is with the element they are most like. Weak spirits can barely use the elements, Jack's friend Peter is like that. Stronger ones, elementals, have good control over at least one. Seasonals two, though we have one we favor."

"Jack's is wind," North said. 

Old Man Winter nodded. "Air. And water of course. Most winter spirits are one or the other."

He nodded at Tooth and Sandy. "You too, I can tell, have a slight air affinity, though you don't use it much. You fly by other means."

Sandy clapped his hands, creating a small scene of him and Jack flying through the air. 

"I be confused." North leaned forward on his elbows. "You and Mother Nature, you don't like us very much. And it's because we are not like you. But you just said we are."

"That still doesn't mean we like you." Old Man snarled, the patience on his face disappearing. "We are both spirits, yes, and were created by the same family. But we are different. We are one with nature. We are affected by it's cycles, are part of them. Spirits are united in this tie to nature. You are not. You're abnormal. Your affinities are so weak to both season and element that you shouldn't last a decade. But you do. And your powers don't wax and wane with seasons. It's wrong. You are wrong."

"Is Jack wrong?" North pressed.

Old Man's lips thinned. "Jack is not wrong per say, but infected by your unnaturalness. He should not be like he is."

"That's something we can all agree on." Tooth folded her arms and glared at Old Man Winter. Old Man glared back. 

"Look," Aster broke in before a fight could start. Now was not the time and it wouldn't help. "Jack's symptoms are odd by both our calculations. Maybe it's something completely different." Even as he said it, the words sounded hollow.

Either way you looked at this, the issue was Jack's core. Jack's wasn't behaving quite like either of theirs, was there a third type out there?

North, Old Man, and Tooth all wore thin lips and grim expressions, but Sandy was waving his arms in the air for attention. Aster nodded at him and with a grin the golden man formed two equilateral triangles above his head.

One triangle was pointed up, the other down, and when Sandy moved one in front of the other they formed a six pointed star.

"I don't get it," Old Man said. "This is just another reason you guys are wrong. You can't even talk properly."

Sandy fumed at him, but it was quick. He pointed at the star again, looking between the rest of the Guardians, expecting them to get it.

"Sorry, Sandy." Tooth's shoulders drooped. 

"I might." North was stroking his chin. "You take two things and you make something different. Like flour and sugar make cookies."

Aster nodded, slowly getting Sandy's idea. "Or like color mixing. Red and blue mixed is still a color, but now it's purple."

Sandy clapped his hands excitedly.

"What does that have to do with Jack?" Tooth asked.

"It means we're blue and elementals and the like are red. Gaia said it herself, remember? She played with the magic of the Oath, changing Jack's magical core."

"Which is why this is all Gaia's fault."

North and Old Man started when they realized they said the same thing at the same time. 

"Think guys." Aster turned to Tooth. "Do you remember what Gaia said? Exactly? It might help."

"Hmm." Tooth brought a hand to her lips and hovered above her seat. "She changed his core, had been working on that ever since he took the Oath because the Oath was important. It allows us to get power from something that's not ourselves - the children."

Aster nodded, ideas starting to come together, and listened to her continue.

"And then....then...oh! A spirit whose life will be just as long as that which he cares for - the season of Winter."

There was a beat of silence as they all thought.

"I'm guessing that's why he hasn't turned to ice," Old Man said.

Aster nodded. "It makes sense. Gaia tied his life span to the season, not to his amount of power. And that I think is what makes him special. Both of us," he gestured to Old Man and then himself, "would die as our power ran out. Even if we get it from different sources, you can't argue about that."

"So the question is where is Jack getting his power from?" Tooth asked. "He's sick because it's disappeared, but Gaia's adjustment to his core is keeping him from fading?"

"I think so. I know you guys wanted to pin this on Gaia, but I'm starting to think she's what's keeping Jack alive."

He turned to the Seasonal at the table. "You and Mother Nature have tried talking to her, but with no effect right? Didn't she say all those years ago she had been slowly changing Jack's core since he took that Oath? I got the feeling that she wasn't done yet, and how long has it been now?"

Sandy shrugged, but Tooth was the time keeper anyway. "Eleven years. I'm not sure that's enough time."

"Gaia is pretty good at answering when we ask for her," Old Man broke in. "That was the frustrating part, that she didn't answer. Usually that only happens when she wants us to figure something out or something more important has her attention. Mother Nature and I figured she was trying to force us to talk, but if she's really trying to keep Jack's core from fading because it's not fully altered yet....I can't blame her."

He sighed and ran a hand over the wisps of gray hair on his head. To Aster, Old Man Winter had always been powerful, aggressive, and way too full of himself. But now, Aster could see something had changed in the Seasonal. Who knew it what it was - his age creeping up on him, the time he spent with Jack, or even Jack's sudden illness. Regardless, he looked weary and on top of that - worried. It was a new thing to see.

Aster placed a paw on Old Man's shoulder. "We all want to see Jack healthy."

The Seasonal jerked his shoulder away, his hunched back snapping straight and beady eyes glaring at Aster. 

"I know that," he snapped. "Jack still has to finish his apprenticeship." 

Tooth frowned at the Seasonal. "If it's your teaching methods that drained his power, we'll see about that!"

"I don't think Old Man Winter is at fault."

They all turned to North. He had pulled Aster's page of notes towards him and was looking at the time line. 

"I am thinking, Jack's life comes from Winter but his power from the children. He has not been interacting with them. Has not been seen. The lights go out, and once threshold is reached Jack's power drops." North turned the paper around so they could all read it and pointed at a line of text. 

"Jack is like this because his believers are gone."

"Then we'll just have to get him new ones," Old Man insisted, looking around the table at the Guardians.

Aster shared a look with his friends. "It's not that easy. We've noticed his dropping belief base for years. We being doing what we can to keep kids believing in Jack. It hasn't been working."

"Obviously, you've been doing it wrong."

"Oh?" North leaned back in his chair, tattooed arms folded against his chest. "We are Guardians. We know about belief. I don't believe you know better than us."

Old Man had the audacity to lift an eyebrow. "You couldn't keep up his belief base, so that's debatable."

"Now see here." Aster pushed himself to his feet and Old Man quickly mirrored him.

"No. You see here. Thank you for figuring out what's wrong with Jack. You can't fix him, so we will."

"We?" North asked.

"Yes, we." 

The Guardians spun around to face Mother Nature leaning against a bookshelf behind them. How long she had been there, Aster had no idea, but he didn't like the smug look in her face.

"We don't need you anymore. Shoo." She flicked her fingers at them, ice beads hitting their faces and instantly teleporting them back to the Workshop.

"Oooo! I hate it when she does that!" Tooth's hands were clenched and North's grinding jaw showed he agreed with her. "Not know belief! We'll show them. We just have to work even harder to get the kids to remember Jack, right? It shouldn't be that hard."

Sandy gave her two thumbs up.

"Come on, Sandy. Let's go. We can start now." Tooth and Sandy zoomed out a window, leaving Aster behind with a grim looking North.

"Any ideas, mate?"

The thing was, they had been trying to keep belief in Jack going for years. They had done pretty well too, by Aster's count, but there was only so much they could do without Jack himself.

"Maybe. I will let you know if pans out."

Aster nodded, gave a quick glance at the dark Jack-centric globe, and returned to the Warren.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ug, this chapter was awful to write and still a little even after edits. Sorry for all the talky-talk, but I feel like it had to be said. Next time, they'll be more talking, but probably also a lightening bolt or three thrown around. Promise.


	6. Cornering Mother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end is in sight guys! One, maybe two, more chapters. Sorry you had to wait so long, but, well, I'm sure some of you noticed I got distracted by other fandoms.

Tooth was _pissed_. Well, pissed and worried and trying not to panic. Help Jack get believers? She sobbed at the task ahead of her. She, her fairies, and the other Guardians had been doing everything they could to keep Jack's lights going and now they were all gone.

What could they possibly do now that they hadn't already done?

She cried as she flew towards the Palace, her tears freezing on the side of her face as she flew on the jet stream. Get more children to believe in Jack! They had left images and dreams, stories and toys. It wasn't enough. To children, Jack Frost was fictional. A character from books and movies.

What they needed was something physical that could be linked to the stories, like the coins she placed under pillows or eggs Bunny hid.

Snowmen that appeared overnight. Frost illustrations on the windows. A pond frozen even in Spring.

And that had gone too, a few months ago. Overland Pond was no longer the anomaly it was that had allowed Jack's belief base to take hold. It was now melted, revealing the water below that hadn't seen unfiltered sunlight for close to 312 years.

Getting children to believe in Jack required Jack. And he was in no shape to do anything.

Her breath hitched in her chest, a cold stone, and she stopped flying. Instead she hovered in the middle of a cloud, face hidden by her feathered hands, and sobbed.

_Jack._

She had imagined it hundreds of times these past seven years. Coming across Jack and Old Man Winter in Siberia or Northern Canada, Jack worn and depressed, Old Man pushing him too hard. Tooth would punch Old Man so hard he lost all four front teeth and she'd whisk Jack away to be safe at the Palace. 

She hadn't expected to see an Old Man Winter concerned with Jack's well-being. She hadn't expected Jack lying on an outdoor bed in a coma. Her little brother had been so still it was unnatural. 

Tooth sobbed harder.

Jack was _dying_. Or as close to it he seemed able to get. He would not return to the Earth. But at this rate he would never wake up. Never swing his staff. Never smile. Never look at her with those eyes that said _family_ and tugged at her heart. He would sleep. And never wake up.

Fury rose up in her again.

It wasn't fair and it wasn't right. Tooth knew the world wasn't always just, but Jack deserved better after all he had been through. Life had been going so well until...well until Jack had invited Mother Nature to Thanksgiving Dinner.

This was twice now Mother Nature had harmed her family, harmed Jack with a decree that hurt much more than a lightning bolt. Tooth would rather not think about how many times Mother Nature and Old Man Winter had physically hurt Jack, any number greater than one was too much and she knew it was at least three hundred times that in all the years they'd known each other. But lightning was a physical pain and she had proof that Jack could deal with that. 

But this. Trying to separate Jack from the Guardians, actually separating Jack from his family. Tooth could remember the anguish on North's face as he told the Guardians about Jack's desperate research into magical cores, the despair on Jack's face when Manny announced that Jack hadn't been created to be a Guardian and the fear of what that entailed. And then more recently the way Jack's face had cracked when Mother Nature had forbidden him from playing with the kids.

Mother Nature had slowly been beating Jack from the beginning, pushing him down with violence and since that hadn't work she'd been targeting Jack's very center. The result was this. Her brother locked up in a tower away from those who loved him. A spirit who should have died, but was forced to cling to life.

Who did Mother Nature think she was, doing that to Jack?

Well, she was Mother Nature. No one spirit on Earth had power equal to her. All the Guardians together might only be able to tire her out. But enough was enough. Someone had to stand up to her, and it was going to be Queen Toothianna of the Tooth Fairy Armies, Ruler of Punjam Hy Loo and the Guardian of Memory.

Tooth brushed off her tears and changed directions, flying straight towards Mother Nature's island.

* * *

The others would come to it eventually, North was sure, but the root of the problem was Jack's inability to play with the children. 

It was catch-22, Jack needed to interact with children to gain believers but Jack couldn't interact with the children because he didn't have enough believers to power such action. It was a spiral, needing children to help get more children, that Jack had tumbled down until it had gotten so desperate _Mother Nature herself_ had come to ask for help. 

It was obvious what had caused this issue - Mother Nature's command on that fateful Thanksgiving. North had no illusions about having her lift it making Jack magically better, but it had to be lifted for them to have any chance. 

He swallowed, mouth suddenly dry. In the history of spirits, both those of living memory and the records they left behind, not once had a spirit successfully changed Mother Nature's mind about anything. And if she disliked a request enough, the spirit often never saw anything else after her furious face. 

Mother Nature was _Mother Nature_. The oldest, and strongest, spirit alive. If his lessons with Jack had revealed anything, it was that Seasonals easily had a hundred times the power of him. And North was the most magically inclined Guardian. A fully trained Jack Frost at the height of Seasonal power? North suspected he could level the Workshop.

He wondered how much Jack's skills had grown under Old Man Winter.

North shook his head. North was to Jack as Jack was to Mother Nature. Showing up on her island and demanding she release Jack from her words was asking for North's death. Maybe just intense pain, because she seemed to believe he had some value to her. Putting up with a full thunderstorm to the chest wasn't something he wanted to do, but he would. For Jack.

If these past seven years of separation had taught North anything it was how much he, how much the Guardians, cared for Jack Frost. They were family, and for family you did anything.

Plan made, he barked out orders to the closest yeti to prepare his sled. He'd take the slow way, straight up flying. Give Mother Nature warning of his coming and give him time to prepare what to say to do something no other spirit had ever made her do - change her mind.

* * *

North found himself holding the reindeer still as he searched the island below. Mother Nature lived here, he knew that, but he couldn't see her from the air and he wanted to avoid landing without some type of permission. This required delicate diplomacy.

“What are you doing here?” 

He jumped. Mother Nature was standing on air just to the right of his sleigh, dressed as Spring and frowning at him.

“Forgive me for intruding, but I was hoping for talk.”

“Then talk.”

“Staying here is hard on Dixen. Can we land?”

He saw her start to say no.

“Please.” He didn't disguise the begging in his voice, “It's about Jack.”

She stuck out her lips in an angry pout, but he could see her hesitation. Old Man Winter, he knew, had developed a fondness of Jack. What Mother Nature felt for the youngest, North could not say, but at the very least she was possessive.

“Would you really throw away a chance to get him back?”

“Make it fast. Land north of the roses.”

He brought the sleigh down, making the most precise landing he had ever done. The space Mother Nature had told him to use was smaller than half of the roofs he landed on and he did not want to bring up her ire.

She was waiting for him. Or rather, his reindeer. She looked over all six of them, checking their teeth and ears, ignoring North as he stood next to the sleigh watching her. It was a power move, making him wait, but he would let her have it. Mother Nature was the powerful one here.

“You take good care of your animals.”

He blinked. Compliment from Mother Nature, that's not normal. But maybe, he thought, she was starting to realize that Jack's problem was not something she could simply fix. She had been worried enough to come to him in the first place. She was still worried.

“Thank you. They are special to me. Like Jack is.”

“You didn't take very good care of him.”

“I took better care then you.”

North heard the thunder rumble and tired to move fast to avoid a lightning bolt to the head. She wasn't aiming for him thought, his sleigh got hit. He smelt burning paint and his top seat turned to ash.

It was a struggle, but he didn't say anything. Mother Nature is not someone to antagonize.

“Why are you here, Guardian?”

“We have tried, all of us, to bring up Jack's belief base while he was....with Old Man Winter.” He was proud of himself for not saying kidnapped. 

“Obviously, you failed.”

“Yes,” he ground out. He didn't like this. He was a Guardian! He protected the children! He had been chosen by the Man in the Moon, was one of the oldest spirits alive, and ranked in the top ten for magic. But he also knew none of that mattered to Mother Nature. She out ranked him on everything.

And none of that mattered when it came to Jack either. He would swallow his pride if it would help.

“Yes. We failed. All of us. And I think you are believing that you will fail too.”

She scoffed, but there was no flash of lightning. Mother Nature turned from the reindeer to the stone mosaic North could see beyond the roses. It was where they had talked to Gaia and Manny years ago, where they had learned Jack was to be a Guardian and Seasonal. It was where they had learned they needed to share Jack, but.

But that hadn't happened, had it? Jack had spent most of his time with the Guardians, only occasionally training with Old Man Winter. That had been Jack's choice, but it was true he hadn't spent an equal time focused on Seasonal duties as he had Guardian ones. North was happy to see that, he was happy seeing Jack smiling, but apparently that hadn't been enough for Mother Nature.

“It's hard, no, to let a child grow?”

“Excuse me?”

“Jack. Yes, he is permanent child, but he has been around long time. Long enough to know what he wants and work for it. And when it's not what his mother wants, well, mother makes her displeasure known, yes?”

“Jack Frost is not my son.”

“No?”

“No more then he's yours.”

“Jack is my son.” The words were out of his mouth before he thought of them, hanging in the air so heavy North thought he saw the air bend. 

Mother Nature snorted. “The Man-In-The-Sky and Gaia made him, not you.”

“Yes, but...” But Jack was someone he looked after, wanted to look after. He worried about the boy, wanted to protect him. And when Jack understood a magical concept, North would feel a glow in his chest. It had nothing to do with Jack being an immortal child worthy of Guardian attention and had everything to do with the way Jack had become comfortable in the Workshop, had spent years alone, would spend Christmas Eve night helping North out, and went out of his way to make Thanksgiving dinner. Jack was a constant presence in North's life, one that he had missed every day Mother Nature's decree had kept him apart. Jack was _family_. North couldn't help but feel paternal towards the winter elemental.

He didn't understand how Mother Nature didn't seem to feel the same.

“I still think of Jack as son. Do you not think of him as such?”

“I think of him as mine.”

He fumed, but kept his actions to clenching his fist. He was proud of himself for keeping his voice steady.

“He is your future Seasonal, but chaining him to that task is what put him in this situation.”

“No, what put him in this situation is you not keeping up his belief base!”

“And what do you know of that?” North threw up his hands. “You are Mother Nature, not Mother Belief. You do not know of the Guardian way and because of that you have hurt Jack.”

The wind started to howl. A hurricane was starting to brew in the air above them. The bit of shore line North could see contained large waves and the trees of the forest were swaying, bending. Around Mother Nature and North, the wind was eerily calm. Eye of the storm. He pulled in his anger.

“You came to me in Pole for help. I am giving it. We know why Jack is sick. We know what started this all. It must be reversed.”

Mother Nature turned on North.

“No.” 

Thunder rumbled behind her.

“Do you know what Jack did, when he was not learning from Old Man Winter?”

“No, and I don't really care.”

“A woman who does not keep track of what she owns? No matter, I will tell. He was playing, with children.”

Mother Nature crossed her arms and continued to stare at North, but didn't stop him from speaking. 

“Even though he wasn't seen, even though he wasn't Guardian and had no believers, still Jack played with children. Children, they make him happy.” He shrugged as if to say 'what can you do?', but North understood that impulse as well. Children weren't his whole life, but they were the majority of it. His actions were always filtered through the idea of how it would effect them.

“You garden, yes? Jack creates snow and throws it at children.”

Mother Nature, uncharacteristically, made a sound that might have been a snort of laughter.

“Have you seen Jack with children?” North pressed.

“I've seen him stare at them,” she answered, eyes foggy with memory. “He was new, fifty years, and standing on a church dome. It was the children in the street below him that caught his attention. He didn't even notice me at first.”

“I would not dream of talking you from your plants, Mother. But you have done something similar to Jack Frost.”

Mother Nature didn't say anything, but the storm around them lessened.

“I do know, how much the children, how much being a Guardian, means to Jack,” she said after minutes of silence. “He cried, you know, when I told him he was meant to replace Old Man Winter. He looked so devastated. He hated the idea of being a Seasonal. All he wanted was to be a Guardian. Wanted it so bad he-”

North closed his eyes, grateful Phil had pointed him to Jack in the library when he had. Jack, he was sure, would have done something irreversible to his core. It would have resulted in a Jack Frost anywhere on the spectrums between depressed because it didn't work, insane because of such drastic alternations to himself, or dead.

“I've wanted things too,” Mother Nature whispered so softly North was sure he wasn't supposed to hear them. “But was never so reckless in trying to get them. And yet now I do.”

“Please,” North begged. “Please, for Jack's sake, let him play with the children again.”

When he opened his eyes, Mother Nature was turned away from his so he couldn't see her face. He did notice the hurricane around the island was just a light rain now, winds only enough to pick up locks of hair instead of sending umbrellas tumbling down the beach. There was also a rapidly approaching jeweled tone figure in the air closing in fast. 

Before he could shout a warning towards either of them Mother Nature was knocked to the ground by a very angry Toothiana, who was sitting on her chest with her hand cocked for a punch. She got in hit in before Mother Nature recovered from her shock and had vines burst through the soil to pull Tooth off of her and pin the fairy to the ground. 

“You!” Mother Nature roared as she got to her feet. North could see the vines twisting, tightening, and from watching Mother and Jack, North knew what was coming next. With a yell, he jumped so he was standing over Tooth's legs and stuck one of his swords in the ground between her knees. His other sword he extended into the air just in time to catch the bolt of lightning that had been aimed for Tooth's belly. North grit his teeth as the current traveled from sword to sword through his body. How did Jack handle this with little more than a flinch?

Practice, his mind told him. Jack had been hit with lightning often enough the pain was no longer one of great concern. North ground his teeth, half in pain and half in renewed anger at Mother, but he knew it wouldn't help Jack's case. Tooth's heart was in the right place, North wanted to give Mother Nature a good smacking too, but North knew it would most likely result in pain and a still comatose Jack Frost.

Tooth never was one to be big on thinking before doing.

When the current in the air disappeared, North looked over his shoulder at Tooth. She was still tangled in vines, but she was stone still and staring at him with wide eyes. 

“Toothy, I know you mean well. But fist to face is not way to get what you want.”

A vine between her teeth prevented her from answering.

North turned to Mother Nature. “Firing lightning bolts is not best way either.”

“Hmmf.” She flung her hair over her shoulder. “No one has complained.”

“I'm complaining now.”

She shot him a look that said she was throwing his complaint into the ocean.

“Mother Nature, no one disputes your power. I only say, you are removed from world. You do not see the effects of your actions and because of your power many do not point it out to you.”

“And you're the one to do so?”

“I think Jack did that first.”

She didn't have an answer for that.

“If Toothiana promises to not attack you, will you let her go?”

“I'll free her if she promises not to speak as well.” 

North looked at Tooth, who nodded. She did not look comfortable pinned to the ground. His friend looked so much like one of those butterflies in museum displays, looking at her caused North’s stomach to churn.

Mother Nature had seen the nod, for the vines slowly loosened their grip on Tooth and returned to the earth, the last to go the one silencing her. She shoot up into the air, did a few loops to make sure her wings hadn't been crushed too bad, and then came to hover at North's shoulder. She opened her mouth to say something, but Mother Nature stopped her.

“Uh-uha, you promised not to speak.” 

Tooth closed her mouth. She looked from Mother Nature to North, eyes hopeful. North patted her shoulder. He thought he was getting somewhere. He turned back to the most powerful spirit on Earth. Tooth had interrupted him, he would have to back track and bring Mother around to the idea of lifting it again.

“Mother Nature, if I can ask, why did you command Jack as you did?”

“I thought that was obvious.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“So he could do his job and not mess around with you freaks.”

“In that case, you succeeded. He learned from Old Man Winter for seven solid years and we did not see him for any of it.”

“Good.” But as soon as she said it Mother Nature's smug features fell to one of confusion and then to one of reconsidering her words. The 'good' had been very short term.

“Yes,” North agreed, ignoring the way Tooth puffed up behind him. “There are benefits to what you did. Jack got to spend quality time with Old Man Winter.” How much Jack's skills had improved had yet to be seen, but North knew that time had at least made the relationship between the two winter elementals healthier. “It allowed us chance to learn how Gaia had changed Jack's core.”

It had also allowed the Guardians to realize how much they cared about Jack, and potentially served as a lesson to Mother Nature that she wasn't right in all things. North would never mention that out loud, lightning coursing through his body once was enough, but if he could nudge her into coming to that conclusion herself that would be the best takeaway of all this.

“I always do the correct thing.” Mother Nature said.

He did his best to ignore that comment.

“Today though, things have changed. You made a good choice for the current situation. I ask you do the same for how things are, how Jack is, currently.”

He felt Toothiana behind him suck in a lungful of air and hold it. North did the same. Together, the Guardians watched Mother Nature. She was watching North, a calculating look in her eyes. Her gaze shifted from him, to Tooth behind him, and then to the stone mosaic. Silent, she headed towards the seasons themed labyrinth and began walking it's path to the center. 

She took her time, moving slowly as she put one foot in front of another. North had walked the same path almost ten years previously, he knew it was long. Still, he held his breath. He didn't _need_ to breath, not like mortals did. He could hold his breath for several minutes easily. 

By the time Mother Nature reached the center of the labyrinth, his lungs here burning. She was taking her time. He didn't begrudge her that, this was a turning point for her though he had tried to phrase it in such a way as she wouldn't see it as one.

Mother Nature paused in the center of the labyrinth, looking down at her feet at what North knew to be an artistic circle made of sand glass, quartered with a symbol for a season in each colored piece.

He let out the air in his lungs and quickly took in a fresh air. Mother Nature was still staring at the symbols of the seasons. Maybe she was talking to Gaia, maybe she was simply thinking. Either way, she stayed there a long time. The passage of time has hard to see on the island, but North's adrenaline from before had long worn away to bring to mind the aches and pains associated with being electrocuted.

Tooth placed a hand on his shoulder and he turned to look at her. Her mouth opened and closed, she obviously wanted to say something, but at risk of being heard she shut her mouth and shook her head slowly. 

“Do not worry, Toothy. I am confident Mother Nature will make right choice.”

They waited silently while Mother Nature finished her walk and came to stand before them again.

“I believe its time I amended to my command on Jack Frost.”

“To?” North asked.

“He must be by Old Man Winter's side to learn from the autumnal equinox to the vernal equinox as according to the Northern Hemisphere. During the off season he is allowed to do as he wishes. He is also allowed a...vacation...from the winter solstice till twelve days later. He may do as he likes in regards to children during his personal time. And he may ask Old Man Winter for such personal time during this training, to be determined between the two of them.”

It wasn't what he had been hoping for, which had been a full reversal of her command at that fateful Thanksgiving, but he had never expected Mother Nature to completely overrule that. She was too set on owning Jack, controlling him. North's practical hope had been for Jack to be allowed to play with the children while he trained, but this went beyond that.

Jack could help with Christmas. Jack could play with the children. Jack could be free for half of the year.

“You are truly a kind person, Mother Nature.” North said, struggling to keep his voice steady. He could cry for how much her amendments were good for Jack, for how she was less likely to make such a mistake in the future, for she had taken not only Jack's desires into account but also the Guardians. 

“Don't forget it,” she snapped at them. “Now go.”

Without a word, North and Tooth scampered into the sleigh. North had the reindeer take off fast, leaving before Mother Nature could realize just how much the animals had eaten of her garden. 

Once they were in the air and through a portal North let out a belly laugh. “Oh Toothy, this is good!”

“I can't believe you got her to change her mind!” Tooth flew over to plant a kiss on North's cheek before buzzing back and forth over the bleachers in the sleigh. “This is amazing! He can get his belief base back! We can see him! Ooo, once he's awake he has to spend at least two weeks at the Palace with me.”

“We will all be happy. Still not liking how Mother Nature controls Jack so, but now it is only partial. I think she is growing to like me.”

“It's hard not to like you, North. Now come one. Let's see if we can find the others and tell them the good news. The vernal equinox already happened, Jack's ours. It's about time we removed him from Old Man Winter's care.”


	7. Extended Immediate Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, it's been ages since an update and I apologize. I jumped head first into Merlin. However, recently, the themes of this fic crept back into my life and inspired me to finish the next chapter during my morning train ride. Thus, it's shorter than I had originally expected, but I like this chapter arch. Enjoy!

North told a snow globe to take him to Bunny. If they were going to bring Jack Frost from South Pole to the North, it would be best if all the Guardians went together. North did not know how much trouble moving Jack might be.

To his surprise, Bunny was not in his Warren. He was in Burgess, as was Sandy, which was very strange as it was still light out. 

“Tooth, North, what are you doing here?” Bunny asked after North landed the sleigh on top of two adjacent cars in a driveway. 

“We have good news!” Tooth sang as she flew towards them. “We just saw Mother Nature and  what is he doing?!”

“We think getting Jack's belief base up. Or trying to anyway.”

Across the street was none other than Old Man Winter at the edge of a playscape. He was yelling at the children on the swings and then pointing to a dog sled off to the side of the woodchips. Looking closer, North saw Jack lying on a pile of furs. The elements status hadnt changed; so still and silent it put North on edge.

“Look kids, Jack Frost is real, real I tell you! He's right over there!” Old Man frantically gestured to the dogsled. The children swinging mostly ignored him. 

There was one girl who seemed able to see Old Man Winter. She looked from the Seasonal towards the direction he was pointing, then back. Her raised an eyebrow contained more sass then an eight-year-old should have. “I don't see him.”

“Arg!”

Old Man Winter stomped away and began talking to a pair of boys doing flips on the bars.

“How long has this been going on?” North asked.

“Pretty much all day. Old Man Winter came knocking on my door. Mother Nature might not want much to do with us, but he understands we can help. Asked where Jack used to have a strong belief base and disappeared. Curious, I popped over to see what he had in mind. He's been going around trying to get kids to look at Jack for hours.”

Sandy rolled in the air, clutching his toes. He was having a good time watching and laughing at Old Man Winter's expense.

“Don't think this will work, but it'll prove we were right in saying getting Jack believers is going to take more than this.”

“Hmm, yes it'll take-”

“Mother Nature reversed her command!” Tooth blurt out.

“What? Strewth, why did you guys say that when you landed?”

“Sorry, got distracted by Old Man Winter. It is pretty amusing. But yes, we just came from Mother Nature's island.”

Sandy splayed out his hands, silently asking and?

“Well, she didn't completely reverse the command, but she made drastic changes. Jack only has to train with Old Man Winter for half the year. From the vernal to autumnal equinox he can do as he likes.” North said.

“And he gets a break from training for Christmas and can interact with the family. But most importantly, we can take him from Old Man Winter.” Tooth grinned, Baby Tooth near her head squealing in excitement. 

“I don't know if that's wise-” Bunny began.

“I'm not saying we should go take that sled, but I'm saying we could. Seven years ago when Mother Nature sent me and Jack to Old Man Winter's fort, Jack physically couldn't leave it. There was a magic barrier that kept him in, and I suspect there's been a tether between him and Old Man for this entire time. If we wanted to, we could take Jack away to the North Pole and not have any magical interference.”

Bunny's ears perked up. “That's amazing!” He settled down on his haunches. “Are we sure we want to do that though?”

“Why wouldn't we?” Tooth demanded, hands on hips.

“Well, it's obvious that Old Man is trying to help. And he had a nice set up, I have to admit, giving Jack access to the weather. Maybe that helps him.”

“I refuse to let Jack stay with Old Man!”

Her yell caught Old Man Winter's attention. He turned towards them and stormed over.

“If you have something to say pixie, say it to my face!”

Tooth fluffed up and North was tempted to place a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. But if he was right, she had come to Mother Nature's island looking for a fight and hadn't gotten one. Here, with Jack comatose nearby, he doubted the fighting would get serious. It might help her, getting into another shouting match. If not, hed ask for a spar.

“Gladly!” Tooth buzzed straight up to Old Man Winter. The old man stood up tall to face her, fists clenched.

"You've done nothing to help him. You waited too long to tell us something was wrong. And now you've brought him here, when Jack is weak -"

"This is where his belief basest has been strongest! Why wouldn't I bring him here?"

"One of the few openings to Pitch's lair is around here!" Tooth hissed. Old Man Winter made to scoff, then cast a quick glance around before shuffling closer to Jack.

North winced. "Tooth, we all know Pitch is little concern. Weak, trapped-"

Tooth whirled around. "He's still stronger than Jack right now!"

North frowned at her, taking in her heaving cheat and teary eyes. She had gone charging into Mother Nature's domain and now was pushing against a Seasonal. All for Jack, to help set things right. To heal him. To heal the pain all of them had felt in Jack's absence. 

"Toothy, Jack will be alright. I promise."

Tooth sagged, dropping to the woodchips on her knees. "You can't promise that. Yes, the restrictions are lifted, but North...North what else can we try? There's nothing new to do, and shouting at kids to see him won't work."

Bunny hopped forward, pulling Tooth into a hug. "Ah, shiela. Its okay to be scared, but you gotta have hope, yeah? Things will be okay. Jack will get better. Once he wakes up, he can play with the ankle bitters again."

Tooth sniffed into Bunny's shoulder. North wanted to join the hug, but Sandy pulled on his sleeve for attention. 

Four children stood staring at them all in a mix of amazement, confusion, and growing worry. They might not see Jack, but they saw the other Guardians. Tooths yelling unsettled them.

Sandy turned North's attention to Old Man Winter. The Seasonal had retreated to stand next to Jack's sled. He looked every bit as scared as Tooth.

"I'll take children," North nodded. Leaving Bunny to comfort Tooth and Sandy to Winter, North made his way to the group of children. 

"Why is the tooth fairy crying?" The girl in pigtails asked.

"We are sad our friend is sick. And we worry he will not get better."

"Who's your friend?" The boy wearing a jean jacket asked.

"His name is Jack Frost. Come." North made his way to the sled where Jack rested. Old Man Winter was trying to read Sandy's pictograms, but he noticed North leading over the four children. The Seasonal watched avidly as North attempted to introduce the children to Jack.

"This is just a sled," the pigtailed girl said.

"A sled with our friend."

"Can't see him," sassed the girl who dismissed Old Man previously. She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot.

"And that is why he is sick."

All four children frowned. 

“See, when children see Jack, he will be happy again.”

“Like Tinkerbell?” the girl from the swings asked. “Believing in fairies gave her strength in the play.” 

“Exactly like Tinkerbell,” North said, even as he made a mental note to seek out Peter Pan. He was Jacks friend, and none of the Guardians had seen him in the past seven years.

They boy with the jean jacket crept up to the sled, the other in a sports jersey beside him. Both boys padded the collection of furs and their hands went through Jack's chest. North winced, the old pain of being walked through rekindling, but Jack didnt stir.

"I don't think anyone's here," second boy said.

"But look, Zach!" The pigtailed girl pointed to frost on the blankets, fanning outward from Jack's body. She trailed her finger over it down one side of the sled, sometimes passing through Jack. The other three kids watched. "It's in the outline of a person."

"Our friend, is winter spirit. It might be spring, but he always frosts what he touches."

“He likes freezing my tail to a rock.”

North turned to watch Bunny hop up next to him as the kids snickered. Tooth flew up to settle on the edge of the sled and smooth Jack's hair. 

"He's a special bloke," Bunny continued, "Loves to prank people, makes sure everyone has fun. He doesn't have a holiday, but he's in charge of snow days."

North ignored Old Man Winter's scoff. It sounded affectionate anyway.

"I hope he gets better," Zach said.

"Me too," admitted the eldest girl, all traces of sass gone. "When I'm sick, I go home and sleep a lot."

"Well, Jack had been getting a lot of rest," Tooth agreed, "And now we're taking him home. Stay safe children. And remember, floss."

They nodded, then turned at the sound of parents calling them to go. The children waved goodbye, North was surprised Old Man Winter waved too, and the Guardians waited for them to be out of sight before returning their attention to Jack.

North liked to think his lips weren't quite as blue, that there was a healthy peach in his cheeks. That the children helped, but he wasnt sure.

"Take him home," Old Man Winter said, placing the leathers he had been pulling the sled with into Tooth's hand. "The Fortress, Jack likes it. It'll be his home eventually, but it's not now. If Mother really did release her command, take him where he wants to be."

Tooth softened as she looked at the Seasonal. "Where did he want to be?"

"Here was one." Old Man waved a hand to encompass all of Burgess. "He called it Jamie's home, and the place with the best kids."

"Not his home?" Bunny asked, sounding surprised.

North didnt blame him. Burgess had been Jack's home when human and the haunt he returned to as a spirit. North had always thought of the Pennsylvania town as Jack's home.

"I asked once, after he started to lag. He's very open when sleepy. He didn't give me a direct answer at first, said home is where the heart is. I pressed, he said home is family before drifting off. Remembering what happened that Thanksgiving..."

His hand squeezed over Tooth's. She used her other hand to pat it and Old Man Winter pulled his hand back.

"You're his sister. Jack is important to me. I'm sure you all understand how quickly he takes a piece of your heart. But you're his family, you're his home. And home is where you go to heal."

Tooth was crying. "Thank you."

A burst of sand caught thier attention. Sandy showed the snowflake symbol he used for Jack, the Guardian "G" on one side and a larger snowflake on the other. He sent a tendril of sand looping around all three, pulling them tight, and tying the strand into a bow.

"Sandy's right," Bunny said. "Jack adopts everyone. He invited Mother Nature to Thanksgiving because he sees her as family. He sees you as the same."

"Come with us to Pole. Jack needs entire family," North insisted.

"Even his mother?"

"Not her," Tooth hissed, "Unless you mean Gaia."

Except Gaia had been silent on the issue, Old Man had said. She offered no clue on how to help. Jack was her pet project, nothing else.

"Come, please." North said. "Bring Marian. Jack's magic is a blend of both of ours and together we are family."

Old Man Winter turned his eye on every Guardian before nodding. "Okay. Take him, and I'll follow you there with Marian and Rose."

"Rose?"

"Mammoths are a Winter Seasonal thing. Jack's got his own now."


End file.
